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Hawks Stall Hot Rods 9-2

August 30, 2013 - Midwest League (MWL1)
South Bend Silver Hawks News Release


The South Bend Silver Hawks defeated the Bowling Green Hot Rods 9-2 on Friday night at Coveleski Regional Stadium. Hawks starter Blake Perry defeated Hot Rods starter Blake Snell as Perry had an impressive outing to close out the regular season home slate in South Bend. The victory in front of 6,389 people (the 20th sellout of the season) kept the Hawks alive in the race for best record in the Midwest League Eastern Division.

The Hawks threatened in the bottom of the first inning. After Hot Rods starter Blake Snell retired the first two batters, third baseman Brandon Drury launched a ball to dead center field that hit off the bottom of the batter's eye for a double. It was the 51st double of the season for Drury, which set a new Midwest League record for most doubles in a season. He broke the previous record of 50 that was held by Lansing's Robert Fick (1997) and Wisconsin's Brian Robinson (1999). Snell (L, 4-9) got out of the inning without surrendering a run when he struck out first baseman Rudy Flores to end the inning.

South Bend (79-57, 35-32) took an early lead in the bottom of the second inning against Snell. Hawks catcher Roidany Aguila led off the inning with a ground ball single up the middle. Left fielder Justin Williams followed with a walk that put men on first and second. Right fielder Mike Lang laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners to second and third respectively. Shortstop Pedro Ruiz dropped a single into right field to give the Hawks the lead as Aguila came around to score the first run of the game. Williams ended up at third on the play. Second baseman Andrew Velazquez loaded the bases with a walk to bring up designated hitter Fidel Pena with one out. Pena hit a chopper to third that caromed off the glove of Bowling Green third baseman Tyler Goeddel for an error. All three runners advanced one base on the play as Williams crossed the plate for a 2-0 Silver Hawks lead. South Bend tacked on one more run in the inning when right fielder Socrates Brito grounded a single through the right side that scored Ruiz and gave the Hawks a 3-0 lead after two innings.

Bowling Green (79-56, 41-26) struggled to get anything going offensively against Perry (W, 8-7). Perry kept the Hot Rods off the board through the first four innings but did allow a single run in the top of the fifth inning. Designated hitter Patrick Leonard led off the inning by drawing a walk. He moved up to second thanks to a passed ball. Perry had a chance to get out of the inning when he retired the next two batters in order with Leonard remaining at second. Center fielder Andrew Toles drove in the first run of the game for the Hot Rods with a double off of the left field wall that scored Leonard and cut the lead to 3-1.

Snell's night was done after three and a third innings of work. He allowed three runs on six hits and three walks while striking out five Hawks. With one out in the bottom of the fourth and a runner on first, Snell was replaced by Jose Molina. Molina kept the Hawks off the board in the fourth inning but ran into trouble in the fifth.

South Bend, the Class-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, broke the game wide open by putting up four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Molina retired the first two batters of the inning but then walked Aguila, Williams, and Lang in quick succession to load the bases. The walks came back to burn Molina as Ruiz stepped to the plate and laced a double down the right field line to the corner that cleared the bases and put the Hawks ahead 6-1. Molina continued to struggle with his control as he threw a wild pitch that advanced Ruiz to third and then walked Velazquez to put runners at the corners. Pena knocked Molina out of the game with a single to right field, scoring Ruiz and advancing Velazquez around to third. Marcus Jensen replaced Molina and he struck out Brito for the final out of the inning with the Hawks ahead 7-1.

Bowling Green, the Class-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, could not find any offense the rest of the way as a combination of Perry and the Hawks bullpen held the Hot Rods in check. Perry retired the final six batters he faced, tossing a total of six and two-thirds innings, allowing just one unearned run on three hits, while striking out three Hot Rods. Enrique Garcia came on in relief of Perry and retired first baseman Ryan Dunn to end the seventh inning.

Jensen retired all seven batters he faced as he tossed perfect innings in both the sixth and seventh after finishing off the fifth. The Hot Rods did manage to touch up Garcia for a run in the eighth as Toles tripled with one out and second baseman Tommy Coyle lined a two-out RBI single into left that cut the Hawks lead to 7-2.

Austin Pruitt relieved Jensen to start the bottom of the eighth inning and gave up two runs thanks to some clutch two-out hitting by the Silver Hawks. Pruitt struck out the first two batters he faced before Brito beat out an infield single to the second baseman. Drury than lined a clean single into right that moved Brito to second. Flores followed with a long double over the head of center fielder Toles that scored both runs and gave the Hawks a 9-2 lead going into the ninth inning.

Jimmie Sherfy came on in the ninth and closed out the game for the Silver Hawks. After a walk to Leonardo Reginatto, to lead off the inning, Sherfy retired the next three batters in order to end the game and preserve the Hawks victory. The win kept South Bend in contention for the best overall record in the Midwest League Eastern Division as they sit a half game back of Bowling Green with three games left to play.

Before the postgame fireworks lit up the sky, congratulations went out to several members of the Silver Hawks as the Midwest League Postseason All-Star Team was announced. Representatives from the Silver Hawks are third baseman Brandon Drury and relief pitcher RJ Hively. Drury currently leads the league in doubles and extra-base hits and his .305 batting average puts him among the top ten batters. Hively, who was called up to Visalia (High-A) shortly after the all-star break, is second in the Midwest League with 19 saves. The awards didn't stop there as Mark Haley took home honors as Manager of the Year. This is Haley's third time as Manager of the Year as he previously took home the award in 2005 and 2008.

The Hawks head out on the road for the last three games of the regular season as beginning Saturday night they take on the Dayton Dragons, the Class-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. The Midwest League Playoffs then begin on Wednesday night as South Bend will open on the road against the second-half Eastern Division wild card winner. The Hawks will head to either Bowling Green or Great Lakes for Game 1 of the best-of-three series with Game 2 and Game 3 (if necessary) taking place right here at the Cove. Game 2 will take place on Thursday, September 5th at 7:05pm and Game 3 (if necessary) will be on Friday, September 6th at 7:35pm. The Hawks dominated the first half of the season to earn home field advantage so make it count and pack the Cove for the playoffs.

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