MWL1 Peoria Chiefs

Katz Hits Two Homers Including Walk-Off in Tenth

June 15, 2014 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release


PEORIA, IL- Mason Katz hit a pair of home runs, including the walk-off in the tenth inning, to complete the Peoria Chiefs three-game sweep of the Clinton LumberKings on Sunday afternoon. The Chiefs conclude the first half with a 37-32 record.

The LumberKings opened the scoring in the first inning against Chiefs starting pitcher and All-Star Arturo Reyes. Zach Shank led off with a double and moved to third on Aaron Barbosa's bunt single. After an out, Marcus Littlewood grounded out to score Shank. Clinton scored two more in the third as Barbosa began the inning with a single and stole second and third. He scored on a Littlewood single and Littlewood came in when Chantz Mack followed with a double up the first base line for a 3-0 LumberKings lead.

The Chiefs got on the board in the fourth inning as Steve Bean connected for a solo home run. Clinton got the run back in the fifth when Barbosa singled, stole second and scored on Littlewood's RBI single.

Peoria scored single runs in the fifth and sixth. After the first two batters were retired in the fifth, Michael Schulze and Vaughn Bryan singled ahead of Juan Herrera's single that plated Schulze. In the sixth, Mason Katz crushed a solo home run with two outs to make the score 4-3 Clinton. Shank hit a solo homer in the ninth to put Clinton on top 5-3.

The Chiefs tied the game in the ninth as Schulze drew a one-out walk before Bryan singled. Herrera hit a ground ball to Jeff Zimmerman at first, who threw the ball into left field trying to cut down the middle runner. Schulze scored on the error as Bryan advanced to third. Justin Ringo singled to left, plating Bryan and tying the game at five. Bean followed with a single to center, but Herrera was thrown out at the plate for the second out and Luis Perez struck out to send the game into extra innings. Katz led off the tenth and crushed a 3-1 pitch high off the batter's eye in straight-away center for his second home run of the day and a 6-5 walk-off win.

Reyes pitched the first six innings allowing four runs on nine hits with a walk and four strikeouts. All-Star Chris Perry pitched a scoreless seventh with a walk and a strikeout. Steve Sabatino pitched the eighth working around an error. Zach Loraine pitched the ninth and gave up a run on four hits. Brandon Lee (1-2) pitched a perfect tenth with a strikeout to get the win.

Notes: Katz has the last two multi-home run games for the Chiefs, also hitting two on May 20Katz hit the first walk-off home run since Jacob Wilson on May 1, 2013It was the first extra-inning homer since Bruce Caldwell on August 14, 2013Ringo doubled in his first at bat to extend his hitting streak to ten gamesRingo has a hit in all ten games he's played for the Chiefs and it's the longest on the team this seasonHis ten-game on-base streak ties Ronald Castillo for the longest this seasonBean has two home runs on the season and both came during this homestandKatz has a team-high 11 homers and 36 RBISchulze had two hits in each game of the seriesSabatino has pitched 13 1/3 innings to begin the season without allowing an earned runChiefs All-Star position players CJ McElroy Jr. and Carson Kelly did not play while Ronald Castillo is on the disabled listThe Chiefs are 13-9 in one-run gamesThey are 6-2 in extra innings and picked up their ninth win in their last at batThe Chiefs got six innings from each starting pitcher in the seriesThe Chiefs are off until Thursday for the Midwest League All-Star GameThe Chiefs begin the second half of the season with the first of four games at the Quad Cities River Bandits at 7:00p.m.LHP Chase Brookshire (1-3, 5.70) gets the ball for the Chiefs while RHP Edison Frias (3-3, 7.18) starts for Quad CitiesThe broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:40 p.m., on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android. The broadcast is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Network in the Tune-In Radio App.

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