MWL1 Peoria Chiefs

Chiefs Drop Series Finale 6-4 to South Bend

Published on August 3, 2008 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release


Peoria, IL -The Peoria Chiefs dropped their final meeting of the season against an Eastern Divisional opponent as they fell to the visiting South Bend Silver Hawks 6-4 on Sunday afternoon in front of 4,517 fans at O'Brien Field. The loss drops the third-place Chiefs to 23-20 in the second half and 53-58 on the season.

The Chiefs used the long ball to get out to an early lead in the second inning against South Bend starter Bryan Henry. Jovan Rosa led off the inning with a solo blast over the berm in left-center field to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead.

South Bend answered the Chiefs solo home run with one of their own in the third inning. Bill Musselman led off against Audy Santana with a homer over the berm in left field to tie the game 1-1. With a runner on second base, Cliff Andersen made a spectacular run-saving catch in right-center to keep the game tied.

Eli Rumler gave the Silver Hawks their first lead of the game in the third inning with his second home run of the series, a solo homer to left field against Santana. The blast is his third of the season and gave South Bend a 2-1 lead.

The ball continued to jump out of the ballpark in the fourth inning as the Chiefs evened up the contest. With one out and no one on base, Nate Samson homered just over the yellow line in left field to tie the game 2-2. All three of Samson's homers on the season have been solo shots at O'Brien Field.

South Bend regained the lead against the Chiefs bullpen in the sixth inning. Josh Whitlock, who arrived from Boise earlier in the day, made his Chiefs debut and allowed a leadoff double to Collin Cowgill. Brandon Guyer tried to make a sliding catch in right-center against Taylor Harbin, but the ball fell out of his glove when he hit the ground to put runners on the corners. Sean Coughlin put South Bend up 3-2 with a sacrifice fly to center as Cowgill scored just ahead of Guyer's throw.

The Chiefs struck back against the Hawks bullpen in the sixth. Demoted starter Jordan Norberto relieved Henry and recorded two quick outs before right fielder Jo Jo Batten lost Elvis Lara's ball in the sun for a single. Lara moved to second on a balk and advanced to third on a swinging-bunt single by Samson. Samson stole second, and both runners scored on a hot-smash single down the third base line by Rosa for a 4-3 Chiefs lead.

The Chiefs lead didn't last long as Zach Ashwood came out of the bullpen for the seventh. After consecutive strikeouts, South Bend put together a game-tying, two-out rally. Batten doubled off the left-center field wall and scored on a bloop single by Ollie Linton. With Linton advancing to second on the throw, Cowgill flew out to center to end the frame.

South Bend regained the lead in the eighth against Ashwood. Harbin led off with a single and stole second as Coughlin struck out. Rumler was hit by a full-count pitch, and Chance Wheeless flew out to left. Musselman doubled over Andersen's head in right to score both runners and put the Hawks on top 6-4. Chris Siegfried relieved Ashwood and walked Matt Oxendine before Batten grounded out to end the frame. Santana left after allowing two runs on three hits over five innings. He struck out four and walked one while allowing a pair of solo home runs. Josh Whitlock made his Chiefs debut and allowed one run on two hits in his lone inning of work. Ashwood (6-8) blew a save for the second time this season and allowed three runs on four hits and a hit batter over 1 2/3 innings. Siegfried threw 1 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out one without allowing any hits or runs.

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