Lugnuts lament long balls in loss to Cougars
July 8, 2005 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Lansing Lugnuts News Release
LANSING - Eddie Kim's pinch-hit, two-out, three-run homer in the top of the ninth broke a 4-4 tie and the visiting Kane County Cougars(41-44, 10-6) held on for a 7-5 win over the Lugnuts(45-40, 8-8) in the opening game of the four-game series on Friday night at Oldsmobile Park.
Kim's ninth homer of the year silenced a crowd of 9,481 one inning after Christian Snavely had tied the score in the bottom of the eighth inning when he connected for his seventh homer of the season. The blast by Kim came off Scott Roy(1-3), who also surrendered a two-run homer to Myron Leslie in the eighth.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Lugnuts got within two runs when Yuber Rodriguez drew a walk to start the inning, went to second on a wild pitch by Robert Semerano and scored on a single by Eugenio Velez. However, Semerano settled in and retired the top of the Lansing order to pick up his 10th save.
Kane County jumped out to the early lead in the first off Chi-Hung Cheng(ND) when Nick Blasi led off with a single and scored on a one-out sacrifice fly by Tommy Everidge.
That score held until the bottom of the fourth when the Lugnuts used a pair of doubles off Cougars starter Mike Rogers(ND) to take the lead. Luke Hetherington's double scored Snavely to tie the score and Aaron Mathews knocked in Hetherington with a two-bagger with two outs.
Neither starter factored in the decision. Cheng lasted five innings, allowing three hits and a run while fanning six in earning his sixth straight no-decision. Rogers lasted six innings, scattering five hits and allowing three runs. The righty got off the hook for the loss when Leslie connected on his two-run homer in the eighth off Roy.
After Kane County had tied the score in the sixth off newest Lugnut Aaron Tressler(ND), the Lugnuts rallied back to take a 3-2 lead in the bottom half of the inning without getting the benefit of a base hit. Rogers walked Snavely and sent him to second on a wild pitch. After David Hicks' groundout sent Snavely to third, another wild pitch scored Snavely.
That lead held for Tressler and the Lugnuts until the eighth when Herrera led off the inning with a double and scored two batters later on Leslie's sixth homer of the season.
Cougars reliever Tomas Cabaniel(1-0) got the win in relief despite allowing the homer by Snavely in the eighth.
Snavely was 2-3 with three runs scored in a losing effort for Lansing while Kim's big blast proved to be the biggest hit out of nine collected by the Cougars on the night.
Lansing will look to rebound from the opening game defeat as they host Kane County in the second game of the series tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. Danny Core(3-4, 7.91) takes the hill for the Lugnuts against Kane County's Trent Peterson(0-0, 1.50). LAFCU Fireworks will follow the game presented by LAFCU, Your Credit Union For Life and the first 3,000 fans will take home the latest poster giveaway in the Top 10 in 10 promotion presented by the Lugnuts, WILX-TV 10 and the Lansing State Journal.
Midwest League Stories from July 8, 2005
- Lugnuts lament long balls in loss to Cougars - Lansing Lugnuts
- Rays hammer LumberKings down with 3 homers - Southwest Michigan Devil Rays
- Dragons pitching staff throws three-hitter, strikes out 11 to beat Southwest Michigan 3-1 - Dayton Dragons
- Leslie, Kim Homer Late for Another Cougars Win - Kane County Cougars
- Hawks Rocked By Kazmar - South Bend Silver Hawks
- Burlington Stings Beloit - Beloit Sky Carp
- Hill Leads Chiefs Past Wisconsin, 5-2 - Peoria Chiefs
- Hill too tough to climb for Rattlers - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
- Last inning jolt goes nowhere - West Michigan Whitecaps
- Bees Take Series Opener in Beloit - Burlington Bees
- Man with two names returns..... - Dayton Dragons
- Chiefs' Patterson making a name for himself - OSC Original by Scott Coolbaugh
- L-Kings Fall To Devil Rays In Series Finale - Clinton LumberKings
- Silver Hawks Stop Bees and Falu's Hitting Streak - Burlington Bees
- Sopko sails south as 5th Lansing player sent to Dunedin - Lansing Lugnuts
- Lugnuts head home with series win over Dayton - Lansing Lugnuts
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