MWL1 Peoria Chiefs

Chiefs Win 10th Straight Sunday

Published on August 2, 2009 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release


Chiefs Score in Ninth for 10th Straight Win

Peoria sweeps South Bend on Ridling's single

South Bend, IN - Rebel Ridling singled home the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth as the Peoria Chiefs secured their 10th straight win with a 5-4 victory over the South Bend Silver Hawks on Sunday afternoon. The Chiefs swept South Bend and are now 20-15 on the half and 58-46 on the season.

A wacky second inning left the Chiefs unable to score. Kyler Burke led off with a single against Randy Rodriguez and he stole second base. D.J. LeMahieu reached on an infield single to shortstop with Burke advancing to third. Jovan Rosa grounded one off the pitcher's leg but Rodriguez recovered to get Burke in a rundown between third and home for the first out. The rundown lasted long enough for LeMahieu to advance to third and Rosa to second. Mario Mercedes hit a flare into right as LeMahieu tagged and Rosa took off. Isaias Asencio made a shoestring catch and threw home. LeMahieu slid home safely as did Rosa but the Silver Hawks threw to second to force out Rosa who never tagged up. The out ended the inning and negated the run scored by LeMahieu since it was a force play.

The Chiefs left another runner at third base in the top of the third after an error and a stolen base by Brett Jackson. South Bend took advantage and gained the lead in their half of the third. Asencio led off with a double to right-center before Jeffry Antigua struck out Chris Davis. With two down Reynaldo Navarro put the Silver Hawks up 1-0 with a double off the left-field wall.

The Chiefs finally broke through against Rodriguez in the top of the sixth. With one down Burke singled to center advancing Rebel Ridling to second. LeMahieu put the Chiefs on top with a two-run triple to right and he scored when the relay throw to third was wild. With the Chiefs leading 3-1, Rodriguez retired the next two batters to escape the inning.

Peoria added to their lead in the seventh against reliever Jordan Meaker. Brett Jackson singled with two outs and stole second base. Flaherty walked and Ridling drove home Jackson for a 4-1 Chiefs lead.

South Bend rallied against Marcus Hatley and Kevin Kreier on the seventh inning. Hatley began the frame by walking Nelson Gomez and he later walked Davis with one out and advanced both runners on a wild pitch. Jake Elmore's pop up to shallow right was lost in the sun by LeMahieu allowing Gomez to score. Navarro grounded back to Kreier but Mercedes couldn't handle the throw home as Davis scored for a 4-3 game. Mercedes did hold on to the next opportunity as Victor Estevez bounced into a fielders' choice with Elmore out at the plate. A.J. Pollock tied the game 4-4 with a single under the glove of Rosa at third before Kreier got out of the inning.

With the game tied into the ninth, the Chiefs scored the game-winning run against Meaker. Nelson Perez collected a one-out pinch hit single to start the rally before Jackson and Flaherty drew back-to-back walks. Ridling came through with another clutch hit as he singled to right scoring Perez for a 5-4 lead. Jackson was thrown out at the plate on the play and Burke flew out to end the inning. South Bend put two on in the bottom of the ninth but Kreier got Estevez to ground out and Pollock to pop-up to end the game.

In his first MWL start Antigua allowed just one run on five hits over five innings. The 19 year-old struck out four and walked one. Hatley allowed two earned runs on one hit and two walks while striking out two over 1 1/3 innings. Kreier (5-2) did not allow a run on three hits over 2 2/3 innings to pick up the win.

Casey's General Store Player of the Game -Rebel Ridling (1B) - Ridling moves into a tie with Kyle Russell of Great Lakes for the MWL lead in RBI with 75 after driving in two more Sunday afternoon. The Chiefs first baseman was 2-for-5 with two RBI and he is now hitting .290 on the season.

Notes...Jovan Rosa was 0-for-4 snapping a 12-game hit streak while Kyler Burke has now hit safely in 10 straight...The Chiefs have swept three straight series...Peoria has a season-high 10 game win streak...Last season the Chiefs won a franchise-best 11 in a row from June 24 to July 4...The Chiefs have won five straight road games for the first time all season...The Chiefs won the season series against South Bend 4-1...Ridling leads the team with 13 game-winning RBI and four of those have come in the team's last at-bat...Perez leads the Chiefs with three successful pinch-hits...LeMahieu has a hit in all five games he has played and three multi-hit games...Jackson has stolen two bases in two of his three games with the Chiefs...Until allowing two runs in the seventh Hatley had not allowed a run in 16 1/3 innings out of the bullpen this season...The Chiefs now head to Beloit, Wisconsin for a four-game series against the last-place Snappers who the Chiefs are 9-3 against this season...On Monday at 7:00 p.m. the Chiefs will send RH Justin Bristow (4-5, 4.36) to the mound against Snappers RH Bobby Lanigan (7-7, 4.88)...The broadcast can be heard live beginning with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. on 96.5 FM ESPN Radio and www.peoriachiefs.com.

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