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IL1 Buffalo Bisons

Bell, Choi Pitch Herd to Doubleheader Sweep

May 7, 2006 - International League (IL1)
Buffalo Bisons News Release


Maybe all the Bisons needed was a new good luck charm. On the day the team introduced their new female mascot, the Herd got a pair of great pitching performances and swept a doubleheader from International League North division rival Ottawa Lynx, Sunday afternoon from Dunn Tire Park. Rob Bell worked a season-high six innings to help Buffalo win the first game, 6-4, and Hyang-Nam Choi threw five shutout frames to shutdown the Lynx in the nightcap, 4-0.

Just before Belle, "The Ballpark Diva," made her singing debut it was Rob Bell that set the tone for a solid day for the Herd. In the first game of the scheduled doubleheader, Bell held Ottawa to just two singles through his first four innings of work. He struck out three and retired 11 in a row at one point.

That gave the Bisons the chance to jump out to an early lead against Ottawa. All four hits the Herd had in game one came in a five-run, 2nd inning. Tim Laker started the rally with a two-out RBI-double and Franklin Gutierrez followed with a two-run single to give Buffalo a 3-0 lead. Ben Francisco drove home a fourth run win a single to left field and later scored himself on a wild pitch from Lynx starter Cory Morris.

The Herd made it 6-0 as Gutierrez, Francisco, Ryan Garko and Jason Dubois all drew walks in the 4th inning.

The Lynx charged hard as Josh McCurdy homered in the 5th inning and Eddy Garabito drove home two more runs with a double in the 6th. Bisons' closer Ben Howard allowed one more run in the 7th inning but closed the door on Ottawa for his sixth save of the season.

And Hyang-Nam Choi kept that door shut in the night cap of the doubleheader, blanking the Lynx over five innings in his first start of the season. He retired six of the first seven batters he faced and allowed just three singles in his outing. No Ottawa base runner reached third base against Choi.

Again, Buffalo's offense responded early to their pitcher's performance. After a lead-off single from Gutierrez and a double from Lou Merloni, Garko gave the Herd a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning with an RBI-groundout. Jason Cooper made it 2-0 with a two-out single.

Jake Gautreau launched a deep home run in the 3rd inning, his fifth of the season. Garko blasted another solo home run in the 5th inning to give the Herd some extra insurance.

Brian Slocum closed out the Bisons' fourth shutout of the season. He allowed just one hit in the final two innings of the game.

The finale of the four-game set will be Monday night at 7:05 p.m. Great pitching match-up as organizational prospects Jeremy Sowers and Hayden Penn go head-to-head. Don't miss Countdown to Bisons Baseball on WECK AM 1230 and WSPQ AM 1330, starting at 6:45 p.m.

BISON NOTES:The last time the Bisons swept a doubleheader was April 24, 2005 against the Pawtucket Red Sox in Dunn Tire Park...The Herd now has four shutouts so far this season. They only posted two shutouts in all of 2005...Garko's 2RBI in the second game gave him 24 on the season, tops in the International League...Gutierrez scored three total runs in the two games. He's now tops in the IL in that category with 25.

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