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Fielders Suffer Third Straight Defeat to Chico

July 1, 2011 - North American League (NAmL)
Lake County Fielders News Release


Chico, California (June 30, 2011) - The Chico Outlaws (12-18) defeated the Lake County Fielders (19-11), 7-6, on Thursday night in a back and forth battle that took 13 innings to decide. It was the first time this season that the Fielders lost three consecutive games. Because of the Edmonton Capitals' doubleheader sweep against the Maui Na Koa Ikaika and the Fielders' extra-inning loss to Chico, the Fielders also found themselves out of first place for the first time this season.

Lake County gained the early advantage with some strong hits in the top of the 1st inning. Rex Rundgren laced a ball to right-center field, reaching third base on a one out triple. Two batters later, Argelis Nunez scored Rundgren on an RBI single to left field, giving the Fielders a 1-0 lead.

Fielders starting pitcher Vince Bongiovanni hit a snag in the bottom of the 3rd. With one out, Bongiovanni gave up a single to Chico shortstop Jay Pecci and then hit second baseman Bobby Hill for the second time in the game, putting the tying and go-ahead runners on base. Chico right fielder Jake Rife singled to right field, scoring Pecci to tie the game at 1-1, and took second base on Nunez's throw to the plate. Chico centerfielder Chris Lubanski drew a walk to load the bases, leading to catcher Al Quintana to drive the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to left field. Chico third baseman Adam Buschini singled to drive in another run, giving Chico a 3-1 lead through 3 innings.

Luckily, the Fielders quickly tied the game in the top of the 4th inning. Nunez singled and brought C.J. Ziegler to the plate as the tying run. Ziegler came through, sending a 2-0 pitch from Chico starting pitcher Jonny Bravo over the wall in center field for a game-tying, two-run home run. It was Ziegler's 12th homer of the season, putting him alone in second place in the North American League in that category.

After his rough patch in the 3rd inning, Bongiovanni cruised through the opposition. He retired nine consecutive Outlaw batters, striking out six of them. However, when Chico first baseman Brian McFall popped up a 1-1 pitch with two outs in the bottom of the 6th inning, there was a problem. Fielders second baseman Brandon Newton lost the ball in the lights, as it dropped into shallow right field. McFall took second base on the bloop double. Then, Chico left fielder Will Wright drove in McFall on an RBI single, giving Chico a 4-3 lead.

With the Outlaws using their bullpen, the Fielders found a way to tie the game again without much offensive help. Patrick Brooks singled with one out, and got into the head of Chico reliever Travis Kane. Kane threw over to first base on a pickoff play, but his throw went wide, allowing Brooks to advance to third base on a throwing error. Then, two batters later, with pinch-hitter Quentin Luquette at the plate, Kane issued a passed ball to Quintana, allowing Brooks to score the tying run.

However, a similar circumstance befell Fielders reliever Evan Kohli. Kohli, who made his debut with the Fielders, gave up a single and a walk to Pecci and Hill to lead off the bottom of the 7th inning. They advanced to second base and third base on a swinging third strike wild pitch to Rife. When Lubanski hit a fly ball to left field, Pecci scored on the sacrifice fly to reclaim a 5-4 lead for Chico.

It took until the top of the 9th inning for the Fielders to respond, but it didn't take long. Nunez, who had hit a solo home run to lead off the top of the 9th inning on Saturday's second meeting against Chico, followed suit in the fourth matchup. Nunez crushed an 0-1 pitch off of Chico closer Omar Aguilar and deposited it over the wall in right-center field, tying the game at 5-5. It was Nunez's eighth roundtripper of the season, and has hit a home run in three consecutive games.

The bullpens battled as the game reached extra innings, with neither team able to bring around a run in the first three extra frames. It took until the top of the 13th inning for the Fielders to break the long-drawn tie score. Lino Garcia fooled the Chico infield, substituting his power for a need to reach base, by laying down a perfect bunt down the third base line and reaching first base on a leadoff bunt single. Garcia took the onus to break the tie, as he stole second base to put the go-ahead run in scoring position with nobody out. The stolen base by Garcia proved to be a big gamble, as Nunez hit a frozen rope to right field, scoring Garcia on a long single to give Lake County a 6-5 lead.

It was on to the bottom of the 13th inning and reliever Chris Thompson to hold down the fort and pick up the win. Thompson, who was in his second inning of relief work, had trouble sealing the win. Thompson issued a leadoff walk to Hill, and after striking out Rife, walked both Lubanski and Quintana on four pitches each to load the bases. With one out and the bases loaded, Buschini came through with a clutch hit to center field, bringing in the tying run. The throw from Garcia arrived in time to try to tag out the potential game-winning runner Lubanski, but it bounced out of the catcher's mitt of Joe Dempsey. Lubanski scored safely as Buschini and the Outlaws celebrated his walk-off two-run single.

The Fielders will try to snap their three-game losing streak against Chico on Friday night. Zac Cline (2-1) will take the hill for the Fielders in the middle game of this second, three-game series against Chico. Both Friday's and Saturday's games against Chico have a 7:05p local start time (9:05pm central). You can listen to the game on 1220 AM WKRS or online at fieldersbaseball.com or wkrs.com.

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