Hawks Fall to the Cheifs

Published on July 31, 2009 under Midwest League (MWL1)
South Bend Silver Hawks News Release


South Bend, IN - Despite three home runs in the first three innings, the South Bend Silver Hawks couldn't stop the Peoria Chiefs on Friday night. The Chiefs rallied to a 15-8 win in a crazy game at the Cove, winning their eighth straight game and ending the Hawks win streak at four in the process.

The 15 runs allowed and 23 combined runs are both season highs for South Bend in 2009.

After falling behind 1-0 early, Justin Parker and Nelson Gomez each hit solo homers in the bottom of the second to put South Bend up 2-1 against Peoria starter Aaron Shafer (ND). This marked the first time the Silver Hawks had two homers in an inning this season.

Peoria rallied back for two more runs in the top of the third against South Bend starter Daniel Vasquez (ND), taking a 3-2 lead. However, the lead wouldn't last as the Silver Hawks struck for six runs to take an 8-3 lead. Rossmel Perez had a two run double for a 5-3 lead, a balk scored Perez to make it 6-3, and two more walks ended Shafer's night.

South Bend catcher Chris Davis greeted reliever Erik Hamren (WP, 3-3) rudely, blasting a three run homer to left for an 8-3 advantage. The three homers for the Hawks are a season high for 2009, and run the team total to 32 for the year.

Unfortunately, South Bend wouldn't score again and Peoria was just getting started. The Chiefs scored four in the fourth against Sean Morgan (ND), with Rebel Ridling and Kyler Burke hitting back-to-back homers. Ridling's 13th homer of the season was a three run shot and Burke's ninth homer was a solo blast. Peoria leads the Midwest League with 81 homers this season.

Peoria took the lead for good against Yonata Ortega (LP, 0-2) in the fifth. The Chiefs scored seven runs on seven hits, sending 10 men to the plate. David Macias had a RBI double, Brett Jackson and Burke each had two run doubles, Ryan Flaherty had a RBI single, and another run scored on a wild pitch to complete the scoring for a 14-8 lead.

The Chiefs tacked on their final run in the eighth with a sacrifice fly by Jovan Rosa to score Burke against Bryan Woodall (ND). Woodall's consecutive scoreless inning streak came to a close at 21.0, and he allowed his first earned run on Friday night since June 5th.

Ridling was 4-for-5 with four RBIs and four runs, while Burke was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs for Peoria.

Victor Capellan (ND) was the only Silver Hawks pitcher to not allow a run, tossing 2.0 scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 0.92 on the season.

The Silver Hawks will continue their three game series with the Chiefs with game two tomorrow at 7:00 EST. RHP Brett Moorhouse (5-10, 3.90 ERA) gets the starting nod for South Bend, with Peoria sending RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx (2-1, 2.39 ERA) to the bump. Pregame coverage begins at 6:40 PM CST on 1620 ESPN Radio and online at www.silverhawks.com.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Midwest League Stories from July 31, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central