Harrison's Four-Hit Performance Highlights Chiefs 7-2 Win
July 6, 2009 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release
Peoria, IL - Josh Harrison recorded a four-hit, three-RBI night and Austin Bibens-Dirkx picked up the win in his first day in a Peoria Chiefs uniform as the home team broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth to pull off a 7-2 win over the Beloit Snappers Monday night at O'Brien Field. Harrison finished the night with his 103rd hit of the season, delivering hit number 100 in his first at-bat in the first. Bibens-Dirkx, just added to the roster Monday, allowed one run in four innings of relief to earn the victory.
With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Ryan Flaherty, who was robbed of extra base-hits in both his previous plate appearances, came through with a double to give the Chiefs the lead for good. Mario Mercedes and Drew Rundle were issued back-to-back walks to start the inning. D.J. Fitzgerald popped out and David Macias struck out to set the stage for Flaherty. The former supplementary first round pick lifted a double to left just out of the reach of Michael Harrington to score Mercedes and Rundle to give the Chiefs a 4-2 edge.
Peoria put the game away in the bottom of the eighth. For the second time in the ballgame, the Chiefs loaded the bases with nobody out. This time however, Peoria got the clutch hit that evaded them in the same situation in the first inning. Harrison came up and ripped a triple off the wall in right clearing the bases to make it a five-run cushion.
Beloit jumped on starter Justin Bristow for a run in the first. After a two-out walk to Ramon Santana, Harrington delivered a run-scoring double off the base of the wall in left field to score Santana and give the Snappers a 1-0 lead.
Peoria eventually tied the game in the third. With one out, Harrison singled to center, his 100th hit of the season. Harrison stole second and Burke lined out to set up a two-out RBI chance for Rebel Ridling. The right-handed hitting first baseman hit what seemed to be a routine grounder to third but at the last instant, the ball took a wicked hop over the head of Snappers third baseman Ramon Santana allowing Harrison to score and knot the game at one.
The Chiefs used some more two-out magic from Ridling to take the lead in the fifth. Harrison singled for the third time of the game and stole second for his second steal of the contest. After a Burke strikeout, Ridling delivered a solid single to center with Harrison scoring easily to give the Chiefs their first advantage at 2-1.
The Snappers tied it back up in the sixth. James Beresford singled and Aaron Hicks reached on an error by Fitzgerald. Santana stepped up and delivered a line-drive single to left-center to plate Beresford and make it a brand new ballgame at 2-2.
For the third time this season against Beloit, Bristow gave an identical five-inning effort allowing one run. The right-hander out of East Carolina University surrendered just two hits while walking two and striking out one. Bibens-Dirkx (1-0) allowed a solo tally on four hits and struck out one in his Chiefs debut. Casey's General Store Player of the Game - Josh Harrison (2B) - Harrison tallied a four- hit game for the second time this season, going 4-for-5 in total on the evening. The second baseman scored twice, drove in three and also stole two bags.
Notes... Harrison is the 105th player in Chiefs history to record 100 hits...Bristow has allowed a first inning run in three straight starts and in eight of his 13 starts this season ...Peoria is now 5-2 against the Snappers at O'Brien Field and 8-3 overall...Ridling has a team-high 14 multi-RBI games this season...Flaherty is second in that category with 11...The Chiefs are 5-1 on Mondays this season, including a 3-0 record at O'Brien Field... Flaherty now has 41 RBIs which ties Burke for second on the active roster...The Chiefs turned three double plays Monday night...Peoria concludes their four-game set against Beloit Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. as the Chiefs send RH Chris Archer (3-2, 2.01) to the hill against LH Daniel Osterbrock (4-6, 4.90)... Tuesday, July 7 is Motorcycle Madness as part of Top Notch Tuesday...Both the seating bowl and lawn tickets are only $5...It is also KRAFT Singles night when fans can bring in a KRAFT Singles package wrapper/proof of purchase for a Buy One Ticket Get One Free from KRAFT Singles...The offer is good PER package wrapper but no limit on the amount of KRAFT Singles package wrappers each fan can bring...The game can be heard starting with the pre-game show at 6:45 pm on 96.5 ESPN Radio and www.peoriachiefs.com.
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