Aces Edge Fort Worth 8-7

July 4, 2013 - United League Baseball (ULB)
Alexandria Aces News Release


FORT WORTH- Jadd Schmeltzer, Cullen Babin, and Cameron Dullnig were all pitching stars and Josh Band collected three hits, scored three runs, and drove in two more to give the Alexandria Aces an 8-7 11-inning victory against the Fort Worth Cats at LaGrave Field Wednesday night.

Schmeltzer struck out nine hitters in a 6 2/3 inning stint, including four in the second inning, before being relieved up 7-3 in the seventh inning after walking his fourth hitter.

But the Cats would rally for four runs with two outs off relief pitchers Daniel Schmidt and Alex Schmarzo. With two men on Chris Ellison greeted Schmidt with a single to score Ryan Miller from second base, and Aljay Davis followed with a 2-run double to left make the score 7-6.

When Schmarzo was brought in, Shelby Ford collected his league high 14th double to deep right field to score Davis and allow the Cats to tie the score.

Schmarzo started the eighth, but hit a batter and walked another while collecting two outs.

It was at this point Aces manager Von Hayes brought in Babin (1-0), a seldom used 5-10 righthander from Houma to get Alexandria out of the jam. Babin responded by getting Cameron Monger to fly out to right field, then retired all of the next six batters he faced to record his first professional pitching victory.

The Aces scored their winning run off Steve Nikonchik in the 11th. Nikonchik (2-4), who had thrown 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to that point, allowed a leadoff hitter to Alex Foltz. Foltz then advanced to second base on a sacrifice by Travis Clark and third on a groundout by Doug Freeman and scored on a wild pitch from the Cats' righthander.

After the game was delayed for approximately 20 minutes in the middle of the 11th for a fireworks show to occur prior to an 11 p.m. deadline set by Fort Worth law, Cameron Dullnig was called on to save the game. The righthander pitched a scoreless inning for his first save of the year in large part to a great diving catch by centerfielder Chad Bunting in right centerfield off the bat of Monger which resulted in a double play when Miller, who had worked Dullnig for a walk, ran to third base on the play never expecting Bunting to be able to make the catch, thus making him an easy runner for the Aces to double up on the bases for the game's final out.

The Aces had a 7-3 lead in large part to the hitting heroics of Band, who was signed earlier in the week to take the place of injured second baseman Eddie Murray. Band scored the Aces first run in the third inning to tie the game 1-1 off Cats starter T.J. Bozeman after singling to center, and his two out triple to drive in Michael Haynes highlighted a 3-run fourth inning to give the Aces a 4-1lead.

Band also scored in the sixth off reliever Matthew Eshleman after collecting his second walk of the game and scoring on a double by Derrick Pyles that, aided by a throwing error by Cats right fielder Ellison allowed the Aces to score two more runs to make the score 6-2, and his double in the seventh off Eshleman scored Haynes with the run that put the Aces up 7-3 in the seventh.

Alexandria (21-19) took two of four games at Fort Worth (25-15), thus completing their eight game road trip with a 5-3 record.

The Aces return to Bringhurst Field Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. for a four game series with Edinburg. Jon Jones (4-1) pitches for the Aces against the Roadrunners in the Independence Day opener.



United League Baseball Stories from July 4, 2013


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