MWL1 Peoria Chiefs

Chiefs Walk Off With 3-2 Win Thursday Night

Published on July 29, 2010 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release


Peoria, IL - Matt Szczur drove in runs in the first and ninth innings on Thursday, including a game-winning walk-off single with the bases loaded as the Peoria Chiefs defeated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 3-2. Szczur's single gave the Chiefs their fourth consecutive victory and improved their record to 14-16 on the second half of the season and 52-47 overall.

The Chiefs got the first runs of the game on the board in the bottom of the first off starter Del Howell. Hak-Ju Lee singled and stole second before advancing to third on a Logan Watkins flyout to right. Szczur tripled to score Lee and give the Chiefs an early lead after three batters. Justin Bour had an extra-base hit of his own as he doubled to give the Chiefs a 2-0 lead.

The Timber Rattlers got one back in the second off starter Rob Whitenack. Cutter Dykstra reached on a fielding error by Watkins and went to third on a Joey Paciorek single. Austin Stockfisch singled to drive in Dykstra and make it 2-1.

The Wisconsin catcher came through again for the Rattlers in the fifth, still facing Whitenack. With one out in the inning and the bases empty Stockfisch took a pitch over the fence in right field for his first home run of the season and a 2-2 tie.

The Chiefs won it in walk off fashion in the bottom of the ninth off relievers Matt Costello and Jon Pokorny. With Costello on the mound, Jae-Hoon Ha singled and advanced to second on a George Matheus sacrifice bunt. Lee walked and Watkins singled to load the bases before the Rattlers brought in Pokorny. The first batter he faced, Szczur, singled to left on a two-strike pitch to drive home Ha and give the Chiefs the 3-2 victory.

Whitenack pitched six innings and gave up two runs, one earned, on five hits while striking out five. Larry Suarez threw one shutout inning, surrendering one hit and striking out two. Ronny Morla (4-2) pitched the final two innings and did not allow a run on two hits while striking out two.

Casey's General Store Player of the Game - Matt Szczur (CF) - Szczur went 3-for-4 and won the game with a walk-off single in the ninth. He had a double, a triple, walked, and drove in a pair of runs while playing sparkling defense in center field.

Notes Thursday was the fifth walk-off win of the season for the Chiefs, the last one coming on July 14 against Dayton, a 10-9 win courtesy of a Nelson Perez walk-off home run Lee extended his hitting streak to 10 games, his season high is 11DJ Fitzgerald and Luis Flores saw their hit streaks end at nine games, the longest streak for either player this seasonBour hit his team-leading 20th double of the seasonWatkins had his team-leading 14th sacrifice of the season, tied with Osmel Garcia of the 1996 Chiefs for seventh on the Chiefs' single-season listWhitenack had his third consecutive quality start and leads the team with sixLee had his team-leading 28th multi-hit gameSzczur has now hit in all 21 of his games as a professionalChiefs pitchers did not allow a walk for the second consecutive gamePeoria and Wisconsin finish the series Friday at 6:30 p.mFriday there will be a post game Fireworks Spectacular presented by Spring GreenFriday there will be a Pitch-In For Charity Tennis Ball Toss presented by Relay 4 LifeThe Chiefs will pitch RH Frank Batista (1-2, 3.34) against Wisconsin RH Damon Krestalude (2-6, 6.71) The broadcast can be heard starting with the pregame show at 6:15 p.m. on 96.5 ESPN and www.peoriachiefs.com

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