MWL1 Peoria Chiefs

Chiefs Fall 7-2 Tuesday

August 12, 2008 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release


Beloit, WI -The Peoria Chiefs scored two runs in the first inning and then allowed seven unanswered in a 7-2 loss to the Beloit Snappers in the finale of a four-game series Tuesday night. The loss drops the Chiefs under .500 on the second half for the first time in 47 days at 25-26. The Chiefs wasted little time getting on the board against Beloit starter Mike McCardell. Josh Harrison led off with a double to left and scored on a one-out single by Jovan Rosa. Rosa stole second and moved to third on a two-out single by Brandon Guyer. Guyer broke for second and stayed in a run-down long enough for Rosa to score for a 2-0 lead before the Snappers tagged Guyer out to end the frame. Chiefs starter Josh Whitlock retired the first nine Snappers he faced before Ben Revere reached on an infield single to start the fourth. Revere was sacrificed to second and moved to third on a groundout by Yangervis Solarte. Rene Leveret tied the game with a home run to center that just cleared the 380 foot sign. Whitlock ran into more trouble and was knocked from the game in the fifth A lead-off walk to Greg Yersich was followed by a Juan Richardson single. Andy Schmiesing laid down a sacrifice that Whitlock bobbled for an error as Beloit loaded the bases. Jeanfred Brito put the Snappers up 3-2 with a sacrifice fly and after a pop out, Estarlin De Los Santos added a RBI single. Chris Cates drew a walk to load the bases and Leveret blooped one into right. Cliff Andersen tried to make an inning-ending catch, but the ball bounced past him as he dove and all three runs scored for a 7-2 Snappers lead. Jose Pina relieved Whitlock and struck out Mark Dolenc to end the frame. In his first Chiefs start, and third outing, Whitlock allowed seven runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Only three of the runs were earned as the right-hander walked two and struck out two. Pina allowed just one hit over a season-high 3 1/3 shutout innings. He did not issue a walk and struck out three in his first relief outing of the season. Beloit starter Mike McCardell was overly impressive on his way to a 9-3 record. After allowing two runs and three hits in the first inning McCardell retired 21 of the next 22, and the only batter to reach came on a dropped third strike. The former 7th round pick tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts and did not issue a walk over eight innings. Reliever Michael Allen retired the Chiefs in order in the ninth with one strikeout.

Player of the Game - Josh Harrison (2B) - Harrison collected the only Chiefs extra-base hit of the night and scored the first run with a 1st inning double. He also made a great diving play in the field in the fourth inning and finished 1-for-4 at the plate.

Playoff Watch: With 19 games remaining in the regular season, the Chiefs are in a five-team battle for two second half Western Division playoff spots. Heading into Tuesday's action, Burlington led Cedar Rapids by three games for first place. Cedar Rapids was ½ game ahead of Quad Cities for the wild card with Beloit 1 ½ back and the Chiefs 2 ½ behind. Burlington hosted Cedar Rapids Tuesday night while Quad Cities was home against Clinton. Both games are still ongoing as the Chiefs finished in Beloit.The Chiefs are done playing Burlington, Quad Cities and Beloit while they have a four game series against Cedar Rapids at O'Brien Field August 21-24. The Chiefs will also play three against last-place Wisconsin and 12 against Clinton and Kane County, the two first-half playoff qualifiers.

Notes...Nate Samson got his first day off since July 10 after 29 consecutive starts...Jake Opitz made his first start at shortstop on the season...Peoria has not been under .500 in the second half since June 27 when they were 4-5...They have dropped 16 of 20 since July 23...Rosa is now 20th on the Chiefs single-season RBI list with 72...He is also fourth in the MWL...Beloit scored six of their seven runs on Tuesday with two outs...They finished the series with 22 runs scored, 14 of those with two outs in the inning...The Chiefs are 16-18 in the final game of a series with a 7-11 mark on the road...Peoria is 35-25 when scoring first, and 2-11 the last 13 times they have taken an early lead...McCardell is the second pitcher to strike out 10 Chiefs this season...Wynn Pelzer accomplished the feat for Fort Wayne on July 28...The Chiefs 6-7-8 batters (Wyatt, Ridling, Andersen) were a combined 0-for-9 with eight strikeouts...Peoria loses the season series to Beloit for the first time since 2002 as the Snappers take 12 of 15 matchups...The Chiefs have allowed a MWL-high 94 homers, just 10 shy of the franchise record set in 1999...The Chiefs now return home for a three-game series against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers starting Wednesday at 7:00 PM...All fans receive free hot dogs and peanuts through the seventh inning courtesy of Vienna Beef...The Chiefs will send RH Casey Coleman (2-1, 1.88) to the hill against Wisconsin RH Juan Ramirez (4-9, 4.61)...The game can be heard live beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 PM online at www.peoriachiefs.com or on WOAM 1350 AM.

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Midwest League Stories from August 12, 2008


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