MWL1 Peoria Chiefs

Chiefs Win 7-5 Monday

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


Peoria, IL - The Peoria Chiefs took game one of a four-game series with the visiting Quad Cities River Bandits 7-5 on Monday night at O'Brien Field. The win improves the Chiefs to 14-23 on the season.

Quad Cities wasted no time jumping out in front against Chiefs starter Ryan Acosta. In his first MWL at-bat, Tommy Pham took the first pitch of the game out to left-field and put the River Bandits in front 1-0.

Peoria answered back quickly in the bottom of the first inning against River Bandits starter Chuckie Fick. Cliff Andersen drew a leadoff walk followed by a bunt single from Nate Samson. Kyler Burke reached on an error by second basemen Mike Folli to load the bases with one out. Marquez Smith grounded back to the mound for an apparent inning-ending double play. However, Fick dropped the grounder and then threw wildly past first as two runs scored, giving the Chiefs a 2-1 lead. Jovan Rosa drove in a pair of runs with a single back up the middle to extend the lead to 4-1 with still only one out. After a base hit by Dylan Johnston put runners at the corners, Elvis Lara singled to center to score Rosa. Andersen reached on the fourth River Bandits error of the inning that allowed Johnston to score from second and push the lead to 6-1.

The Chiefs left runners on in the third and fourth and took a 6-1 lead into the fifth. Luis De La Cruz started with a single off Acosta and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. After an out, Pham singled home De La Cruz and moved to second on a single by Peter Kozma. Charlie Kingery cut the lead to 6-3 with a RBI single to right, and Andrew Brown delivered a RBI double to left. Matt Arburr cut the lead to one with a RBI groundout before Acosta retired Folli to end the frame.

Peoria added an insurance run in the eighth inning against River Bandits reliever Blake King. Andersen drew his second walk of the game and moved to second on a base hit by Samson. Kyler Burke delivered a two-out single to center to score Andersen and give the Chiefs a 7-5 lead. Samson was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first to end the inning.

Acosta went five innings and allowed five runs on eight hits while striking out three en route to his first win of his career. Audy Santana struck out three of the first four batters he faced, striking out four overall in his two innings of work. Craig Muschko worked the final two innings of the night to pick up his second save of the season. Player of the Game - Cliff Andersen (CF) - Andersen was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and also stole a base. He reached base in all five of his plate appearances.

Notes... Lara singled in the first to extend his hit streak to a Chiefs season-best 11 games, and has reached base in all 12 games he has played...Peoria has had nine or more hits in seven of the last 11 games...The six runs scored in the first marked a season high for the Chiefs for most runs in an inning...Before tonight, the Chiefs had scored three total runs in 16 first innings at home...Andersen has recorded multi-hit games in three of the last five games...Peoria is 3-9 in the first game of series this season...The Chiefs have allowed a MWL high 32 home runs... Ashwood and Acosta are tied for the league lead with seven home runs allowed...Peoria manager Ryne Sandberg served the final game of his three-game suspension Monday...The series continues on Tuesday evening at 6:30...Peoria will send RH Alberto Cabrera (1-4. 6.21) to the mound against RH Thomas Eager (1-1, 5.74) for the River Bandits...The game can be heard live beginning with the pre-game show at 6:15 PM online at www.peoriacheifs.com or on WOAM 1350.

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Midwest League Stories from May 12, 2008


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