MWL1 Peoria Chiefs

Late inning grand slam propels Chiefs

Published on June 30, 2008 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release


Peoria, IL - As has been their habit throughout the series, the Peoria Chiefs beat the Kane County Cougars with a high-excitement final inning in the last game of the four-game series. The Chiefs won 11-7 with a walk-off grand slam by Jovan Rosa in the bottom of the eleventh. The win puts the Chiefs at 7-5 in the second half and 37-43 on the season, and the team has extended their streak to a season-high seven wins. The teams went to the eleventh inning before the Chiefs broke through to win against Cougars reliever Brent Lysander. Jonathan Wyatt began the Chiefs half of the inning with a single, and Nate Samson's intended sacrifice bunt was thrown down the right-field line by Lysander to advance both runners. The Cougars intentionally walked Marquez Smith to load the bases before Rosa stepped up and launched his third homer of the season into the left-field berm to win it for the Chiefs 11-7. The grand slam sent the crowd of 5,135 into a frenzy as they waited for the post-game 4th of July fireworks celebration The Chiefs won the first two games of the series after tying the game in the ninth and tonight Kane County followed suit. Trailing 7-5 to start the inning, the Cougars scored two runs against Chiefs reliever Jake Muyco to tie the game. With one down, Corey Brown hit a solo home run to put Kane County one closer at 7-6. Jake Smith followed with a double, despite a diving attempt by Jonathan Wyatt in center, and Smith scored on a double by Dowling to put both teams even at 7. The offense was in gear from the start as the Cougars wasted little time jumping in front of the Chiefs with a quick 2-0 lead in the first against starter Chris Siegfried. With one down, Michael Richard singled and Larry Cobb doubled to put two runners on. Brown grounded out but scored Richard to put Kane County up 1-0. Jake Smith brought in their second run with a single before Todd Johnson flew out to end the inning with the Cougars ahead 2-0. Peoria responded in their half of the first, giving the Cougars little time with the lead as the Chiefs took over against starter Scott Deal. Wyatt led off the inning with a single to left, and Samson sent him to second with a sacrifice down the first base line. Smith's hit to right-center brought Wyatt home to put the Chiefs on the board 2-1. Rosa made the Chiefs second out with a groundout, but Luis Bautista doubled to score Smith and tie the game. The rally continued as Brandon Guyer reached on an infield single followed by another base hit by Cliff Andersen, which scored Bautista to put the Chiefs up 3-2. The Chiefs added to their lead in the third, beginning the inning with a walk for Smith from Deal. Rosa's base hit advanced Smith, and Bautista grounded into a double play as Smith scored to put the Chiefs ahead 4-2. One run in the fifth helped the Cougars cut their deficit, but reliever Jon Mueller got the Chiefs out of the inning with the lead. Richard started with single and stole second before Cobb was walked. A double steal from the two runners put them a base closer as Brown struck out. Smith was also walked, and a fielders choice from Johnson allowed Richard to come home, putting the Cougars down 4-3. A long home run to left field by Smith off Deal led off the Chiefs fifth and gave the team an insurance run, putting them ahead 5-3. The homer was Smith's team-leading twelfth of the year and his seventh at O'Brien Field this season. The Cougars caught up with the Chiefs in the seventh against Steve Vento. With one down, Brown reached on an error by first baseman Rosa. An out later Johnson responded with a two-run homer into the Pepsi Picnic Plaza in right field to tie the game 5-5. With no hesitation, the Chiefs came back with two runs of their own in their half of the seventh. Wyatt was walked by Cougars reliever Nick Walters to start the inning, and Samson flew out to center for the first out. Smith followed with a single before the Cougars brought in Justin Friend from the bullpen, who picked off Smith for the second out. Rosa singled to score Wyatt, and Friend helped the Chiefs to load the bases by walking Bautista and hitting Guyer with a pitch. Andersen's single between the third baseman and shortstop brought home Rosa to regain the Chiefs lead at 7-5. Siegfried threw four innings for the Chiefs, in his first start since June 10. He allowed two runs on five hits while walking two and striking out one. Mueller pitched two innings, allowing one run on two hits. He walked three batters and struck out one. Vento worked two innings as well, giving up two runs on two hits and striking out one. Muyco also threw two innings, giving up two runs on two hits, as well as one home run. Muschko picked up the win with one inning of relief in which he allowed two hits, walked one and struck out one.

Player of the Game - Jovan Rosa (1B) - Rosa drove home the winning runs with a walk-off grand slam in the eleventh inning. He was 3-for-6 with two runs scored and five RBI, and he gave the Chiefs the lead in the seventh with his RBI single.

Notes...The last walk-off grand slam at O'Brien Field came from Terry Evans on May 24, 2004...The Chiefs last hit a grand slam when Yusuf Carter blasted one at Burlington on July 1, 2006...Chiefs last seven-game winning streak came July 15-22, 2007...The team is 23-6 when scoring five or more...They are also 5-6 in extra inning games... Muyco allowed the first earned run of his pitching career...The Cougars five stolen bases ties the most bases stolen against the Chiefs this year since Fort Wayne stole five on April 27...The Chiefs are second in the league in doubles with 150, behind Lansing who has 151...Samson's two sacrifices put him at fourth on the single season list...Smith hit his seventh home run at home tonight, tying him for seventh on the single season list...The record is nine by Daric Barton in 2004... The Chiefs turned their league-leading 84th double play of the season...The Chiefs have their first winning month of the season as they end 14-11 for the month of June...The Chiefs attendance for the month of June was 65,856 with an average of 4,390 per night...This June was the fourth best month in O'Brien Field history in terms of attendance history, falling behind August 2002, August 2003, and July 2005...The Chiefs will head out for a 14 day and 13 game road trip...The team will first face Wisconsin tomorrow at 7:05 pm for a four-game series before moving on to Quad Cities, Kane County, and West Michigan...Peoria will send RH Kevin Kreier (3-2, 3.86) to the hill against RH Michael Pineda (5-3, 1.43) for Wisconsin...The game can be heard live beginning with the pre-game show at 6:50 PM online at www.peoriachiefs.com or on WOAM 1350 AM.

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Midwest League Stories from June 30, 2008


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