Lugnuts win with wild comeback in ninth to stun Dragons
April 29, 2005 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Lansing Lugnuts News Release
Dayton, Ohio.- Lansing manager Ken Joyce earned his 200th career win as the comeback Lugnuts(13-7) did it again on Thursday night in Dayton, scoring five times in the ninth to post their 10th comeback win so far in 2005, a stunning 6-4 win over the Dragons(5-14) at Fifth Third Field.
Trailing 3-1 heading to the ninth, the Lugnuts used a pair of walks to Eric Nielsen and Christian Snavely to get things started off Jared Sanders(0-2). Joey Wolfe pinch-hit for Yuber Rodriguez and grounded to second to spring the runners up a base. Sanders then struck out David Hicks for the second out, but then things turned poorly for the righty.
Juan Peralta earned a tough walk to load the bases and Ryan Klosterman came to the plate. Klosterman swung at the first pitch and fouled it away, but Dragons catcher Craig Tatum was called for catcher's interference to allow Klosterman to reach and Nielsen to score, making it 3-2. Curtis Thigpen stepped up and watched Sanders's first pitch sail wide of Tatum, allowing pinch-runner Jason Armstrong to score the tying run from third. Then, inexplicably, Sanders uncorked another wild pitch to allow Peralta to score, putting Lansing ahead 4-3. Thigpen and Cory Patton would then single home runs to give the Lugnuts a 6-3 advantage. The Dragons would score in the ninth, an unearned run off Danny Hill, but the righthander closed the door for his seventh save. Jordy Templet, who worked a pair of scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth, earned the win to improve to 2-1.
Lansing opened the scoring off Dragons starter Philippe Valiquette in the second when Nielsen, who went 3-3 with a pair of runs, blasted his third homer of the year to left to make it 1-0.
That score held up until the fifth as Casey Janssen retired the first 12 Dragons but then surrendered three runs in the inning. Trevor Lawhorn's one-out double scored Tonys Gutierrez and Hablito Hernandez to make it 2-1 and an RBI groundout by Kenny Lewis increased the lead to 3-1. Still, Janssen retired the final five hitters he faced after Lawhorn's double and retired the side in five of his six innings. The Lugnuts and Dragons continue their series tomorrow night in Dayton at 7:00 p.m. as Adrian Martin(0-0) makes his first start for the Lugnuts against fellow righthander Brad Morenko(1-0).
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