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Francescon Deals Chiefs to Another Win

May 17, 2012 - Midwest League (MWL) Peoria Chiefs

Clinton, IA - The Peoria Chiefs scored three runs in the fifth inning and withstood a furious rally to defeat the Clinton LumberKings 4-3 Thursday night to even the series. The win moves the Chiefs to 19-22 on the season heading into Friday's series finale.

Clinton jumped out in front thanks to an error in the bottom of the first. Jamal Austin started the inning with a sinking line drive to right field that hit off Taiwan Easterling's glove for a two-base error. Austin went to third base on a passed ball and after a walk scored on a 5-4-3 double play induced by PJ Francescon.

The Chiefs tied the game in the third as Marco Hernandez tripled to start the inning and scored on a two-out single by Rafael Lopez. Oliver Zapata led off the fourth with a single to right and stole second against Trevor Miller. Hernandez walked and both runners moved up on a wild pitch before Pin-Chieh Chen put the Chiefs up 2-1 with a single. Easterling made it 3-1 with a sacrifice fly to center and Chen scored on an error for a 4-1 Peoria lead.

With the Chiefs up three, Larry Suarez took over in the seventh inning for his Chiefs 2012 debut. Dan Paolini was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a groundout. An error by Anthony Giansanti at third put runners on the corners and Mike Dowd drove home Paolini with a groundout. Dillon Hazlett made it 4-3 with an infield single before he was caught stealing to end the inning.

Jeff Lorick came out of the Chiefs bullpen in the ninth and Steve Baron reached on an error by Giansanti. After a strikeout Mario Yepez singled to put runners on the corners and Lorick struck out Jabari Blash. Dowd walked to loaded the bases but Lorick got Hazlett to fly out on a full-count pitch to end the game.

Francescon (5-1) allowed one unearned run on two hits over six shutout innings in his sixth straight quality starts. The righty struck out three and walked two in his fifth straight win. Suarez earned his first hold allowing two unearned runs on one hit over two innings. Lorick allowed one hit and one walk with two strikeouts for his sixth save.

Casey's General Store Player of the Game - PJ Francescon (RHP) - Francescon is now tied for the league lead in victories with five and he has not allowed an earned run over 17 1/3 innings. He threw six innings or more for the sixth straight start and struck out three without needed an outfielder to make a catch all night.

Notes: The Chiefs are now 5-8 in one-run gamesPeoria is 7-17 when scoring less than five but 17-4 when allowing less than fiveThe Chiefs stole four bases for the second time in three gamesChen batted leadoff for just the fifth time all season and was 2-for-5 with a RBI, run scored and stolen baseFrancescon is tied for the MWL lead with nine double plays induced after Clinton hit into three double plays in the first three innings ThursdayLorick is six of seven in save chancesThe two teams will meet 16 times in 2012 with 10 of the games coming in Peoria, including a three-game series next Wednesday - FridayLast season the Chiefs were 5-1 in Clinton including a three-game sweep in AprilThe three-game series concludes Friday at 6:30 p.m. as the Chiefs send Jose Rosario (3-3, 4.50) to the mound against Clinton RH Ambioris Hidalgo (1-5, 5.40)The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pre-game show at 6:15 p.m. on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android.

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Midwest League Stories from May 17, 2012


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