MWL1 Fort Wayne TinCaps

Wizards Fall Victim To Long Ball, Lose 6-4

Published on April 6, 2008 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Fort Wayne TinCaps News Release


FORT WAYNE, IN---For most of Sunday afternoon's game at Memorial Stadium, it looked like the Fort Wayne Wizards were going to salvage a split of their season-opening four game series with Lansing.

Lugnut outfielder Yohermyn Chavez had other ideas, however, as he hit a pair of tape measure home runs to help rally his team from a three-run deficit to a 6-4 victory in 10 innings.

Momentum was on the side of the home team through the first five innings of this game.

Lansing's Kevin Ahrens (who singled and stole his first base of the season off Fort Wayne starting pitcher Brandon Gomes) tried to score from second base with two outs in the top of the first inning on a single to centerfield off the bat of Jonathan Jaspe, but was thrown out at the plate by Wizard centerfielder Brad Chalk.

Fort Wayne scored the game's first run in the bottom half of the third inning, when Felix Carrasco singled, moved over to third base on a double by Luis Martinez, then came home on an infield groundout.

The Wizards added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth off Lugnut starter Brad Mills to increase their advantage to 3-0.

A two-out single by Yefri Carvajal scored Justin Baum (who singled) from second base with the first run of the inning, and Carvajal would score himself moments later, thanks to a double by Carrasco.

The score remained 3-0 in favor of Fort Wayne until Lansing came to bat against Wizard relief pitcher Wynn Pelzer in the top of the sixth inning.

With one out, Wes Stone walked on four pitches.

Manny Rodriguez advanced Stone over to third base when he singled into centerfield, and both runners would come in to score following Chavez' first home run of the game and the season---a blast that cleared both the 16-foot high wall in left field, and a 20-foot high tater sack that's above the wall, and bounced onto Coliseum Boulevard.

Chavez' hit tied the game at 3-3.

Carrasco's third hit of the game (a two-out single off Lugnut relief pitcher Brian Pettway) scored Angel Mercado from second base in the bottom half of the sixth, and gave Fort Wayne the lead once again at 4-3.

The lead didn't last very long, as Jaspe singled in Ahrens from second base with nobody out in the top of the seventh inning to tie the contest at 4-4.

It stayed that way until the top of the 10th inning, when Chavez took a 0-1 pitch from Wizard reliever Colt Hynes and drilled it over the wall in left-centerfield and once again onto Coliseum Boulevard for his second tape measure home run of the day, scoring pinch-runner John Tolisano in front of him, and giving Lansing their first lead of the game at 6-4.

Relief pitcher Edgar Estanga made the lead stand up, as he pitched a scoreless bottom of the 10th, to preserve the Lugnuts' third win in a row.

Estanga (1-0), the third Lansing pitcher of the afternoon, picked up the victory, while Hynes (0-1), the fourth Fort Wayne pitcher to appear, suffered the loss.

The Wizards will now embark on their first road trip of the season, a 10-day, 10-game trip that will see them play four games in Dayton, OH, and three games each in both Beloit and Appleton, WI.

The first of the four games in Dayton will take place on Monday night, with the starting pitchers scheduled to be Fort Wayne southpaw Allen Harrington (0-0, 2.25) and Dragon right-hander Curtis Partch (0-0, 0.00). The game can be heard on both the radio (ESPN Radio 1380) and the Internet (www.fortwaynewizards.com), beginning with the Hupe Insurance Services Pre-Game Show at 6:40 p.m. (EDT).

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Midwest League Stories from April 6, 2008


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