MWL1 Peoria Chiefs

Chiefs Rally for 6-5 Win Saturday Night

Published on May 16, 2009 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release


Beloit, WI - Trailing 5-0 at the start of the seventh, the Peoria Chiefs rallied for a 6-5 win Saturday night over the Beloit Snappers at Pohlman Field. The win moves the Chiefs to 19-15 on the season and gives the team a three-game road winning streak.

Down 5-4 after seven, Rebel Ridling walked to start the eighth and was out on a fielders' choice at second. With Kyler Burke at first, Josh Vitters singled to left to move the tying run to scoring position. After Nelson Perez struck out looking, Matt Williams replaced Joe Testa and ran the count full on Junior Lake. Lake put the Chiefs on top 6-5 with a two-run double to the wall in left-center.

Beloit scored in the first inning and the Chiefs were fortunate to hold the Snappers to just one tally. James Beresford led off with a five-pitch walk from Chiefs starter Chris Archer but was thrown out by Michael Brenly while trying to steal second. Nate Hanson followed with a walk and Ozzie Lewis reached on an infield single between the mound and third. Jon Waltenbury put the Snappers on top 1-0 with a single to left and Angel Morales walked to load the bases. After a visit to the mound by pitching coach Rich Bombard, Archer rebounded to strike out Dominic De La Osa and Michael Harrington to end the inning with the Chiefs down by just one.

The Snappers added to their lead in the second against Archer. Nick Romero doubled to right-center with one out and scored on a two-out single by Nate Hanson. Hanson moved to third on a single by Ozzie Lewis but Archer struck out Waltenbury to end the frame trailing 2-0.

With Snappers starter Daniel Berlind cruising, Beloit broke the game open in the sixth against reliever Alberto Cabrera. Cabrera had retired the first nine batters he faced before Morales reached on a leadoff double in the sixth. Morales moved to third on a balk and scored on a single by De La Osa for a 3-0 Beloit lead. Harrington doubled to right and after a walk loaded the bases, Beresford made it 5-0 with a single to left-center.

The Chiefs battled back through three pitchers in the top of the seventh. Vitters led off with a solo homer to left against Berlind and Perez followed with a single. Bruce Pugh relieved Berlind and struck out Lake before walking Michael Brenly. Drew Rundle made it a 5-2 game with a double to right as Perez scored. Harrison doubled to shallow right to score two and he advanced to third on a bad throw from Harrington in right field. Lefty Joe Testa relieved Pugh to face left-handed hitting Ryan Flaherty with the tying run at third and one out. The Chiefs tried to squeeze Harrison home but Flaherty couldn't make contact with an outside pitch and Harrison was tagged out between third and home. Flaherty struck out looking to end the inning with the Chiefs down 5-4.

Archer lasted just two innings on 57 pitches while giving up two runs on five hits. He walked three and struck out four while tying his shortest outing of the season. Cabrera (3-1) allowed three runs on five hits over four innings while walking one and striking out four. Ryan Buchter nailed down his fourth save of the season with two perfect innings in which he struck out three.

Casey's General Store Player of the Game- Josh Vitters (3B) - Josh collected his fifth three-hit game of the season and started the comeback with a leadoff homer in the seventh. He also singled to extend the rally in the eight and scored the go-ahead run on Junior Lake's double. Vitters finished 3-for-4 with a homer, two runs scored and a RBI.

Notes...Today's game was the Chiefs first nine-inning game since Sunday's 5-2 win at Fort Wayne...The Chiefs played seven-inning double headers on Tuesday and Thursday and were rained out on Wednesday and Friday...Friday's game will be made up as part of a double header against Quad Cities on Monday June 15 at 5:00 pm...Harrison leads the team with 15 multi-hit games...The opponent has scored first in four straight games and in four of the last six games the opposition has scored in the first inning...The Chiefs are 7-4 in the first game of a series this season, 3-4 on the road...Peoria is 4-2 on Saturday's...Cabrera had not allowed a run since April 23 at Wisconsin, a span of 17 1/3 innings....The five run deficit matches the largest deficit erased by the Chiefs this season as they rallied against Cedar Rapids on May 2...RHP Kevin Kreier was activated from the disabled list on Saturday while RHP Josh Whitlock was sent down to extended spring training...The Chiefs played the game with just 24 active players and no true backup catcher after the Friday promotion of Luis Flores...Catcher Mario Mercedes is expected to be activated from the DL for Sunday's game...IF/OF David Macias caught in the bullpen and was listed as an emergency backup to Brenly...Peoria was just 1-6 in Beloit last season and 3-12 overall against the Snappers...The four-game series continues on Sunday at 2:00 pm as the Chiefs send RH Aaron Shafer (4-1, 4.09) to the hill against Beloit LH Daniel Osterbrock (1-4, 6.88)...The game can be heard starting with the pre-game show at 1:45 PM on 96.5 ESPN Radio and www.peoriachiefs.com.

Check out the Peoria Chiefs Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Midwest League Stories from May 16, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central