Nick Singleton leads X's past St. Paul 11-0
Published on July 15, 2008 under American Association (AA)
Sioux City Explorers News Release
ST. PAUL, MN -- Explorers starter Nick Singleton was left off the all-star game and on Tuesday night he showed he belonged, throwing 6 2/3 innings of no hit ball and led the X's to a thundering 11-0 blow out of the Saints at Midway Stadium.
Singleton went 8 full innings for Sioux City, and had a no hitter going until the 7th. The first 2 baserunners who reached were Julius Thames on a leadoff walk in the first and Brent Krause on an error in the 2nd. Thames was thrown out trying to steal 2nd and Krause was picked off first base. Singleton allowed walks to Josh Womack in the 3rd and Thames again in the 6th. No Saint had a hit until Tim Brown's grounder on the right side with 2 outs in the 7th. Alex Llanos made a great, diving attempt on the ball but could not make a throw. Krause had a solid single up the middle in the next at bat but Singleton retired Ben Thomas on a comebacker to end the inning.
Singleton had thrown 109 pitches before being lifted for Cameron Cheek, who gave up a leadoff single to Tony Mansolino in the 9th before getting the final 3 outs and combine with Singleton for a 3 hit shutout.
Meanwhile, Singleton got tons of offensive support from his teammates. With a 3-0 lead, the X's sent 9 men to the plate in the 5th highlighted by a 3 run HR by Juan Camacho to build an 8-0 advantage. Sioux City scored 3 more in the 7th to put the game completely out of reach.
In the 5th, Jason Bryan started the inning with a single up the middle and then Derek Schermerhorn reached on a bunt base hit when he avoided the tag of Brown at first. Dustin Jones would hit a bunt too close to the mound to force Bryan out at third. With Jason Tuttle at the plate, the X's would attempt a double steal but Schermerhorn missed the sign and didn't run while Jones did. While Jones was in a rundown, Schermerhorn broke for third and when Jones eluded the tag, the throw to get Schermerhorn was dropped at third by Ben Thomas. Tuttle then singled to left, scoring Schermerhorn to make it 4-0 X's but Tuttle got caught in a rundown trying to advance to second on the throw home. Brown got the throw from Kevin Sullivan and began to chase Tuttle. Jones then threatened to go home catching Brown's attention and nobody covered 2nd, allowing Tuttle to advance on another mental breakdown by St. Paul. Alex Llanos was walked intentionally to load the bases and Chris Grossman hit a sacrifice fly to score Jones and make it 5-0 Sioux City.
The next batter was Juan Camacho and he hammered a Dustin Bolton pitch over the RF wall for his 5th HR of the season. It was a 3 run blast to make it 8-0 Sioux City and the X's won going away. Camacho went 2-5 with his 3 RBI. Tuttle finished 2-5 with 2 RBI. Grossman finished 2-4 with 2 RBI. Chad Gabriel went 2-4 with a RBI. Every player in the X's line-up but Llanos had at least 1 hit and every player in the line-up except Bryan scored a run.
While there were no shortage of offensive heroes in the game, there was 1 clear defensive hero. Nick Singleton. The righty was overlooked for the All-Star Game by St. Paul Manager, George Tsamis, not once, but twice. Tsamis, the skipper of the North squad, selected the pitchers and reserves for the game and did not pick Singleton initially. When St. Paul's Craig Moldrem was signed by the Boston Red Sox, Tsamis once again picked a Saint, Dustin Bolton to take his place. On this night, Bolton was tagged for 8 runs, 4 earned in just 5 innings of work, falling to 4-3 on the year. Singleton, meanwhile, lowered his ERA from 2.76 to 2.51 and improved his record to 5-4.
Sioux City will try to make it 2 in a row on Wednesday afternoon at Midway and it will be a battle of All-Stars on the mound. The X's will send Paige Dumont while the Saints counter with Charlie Ruud. Game time is 1:05 and can be heard live at saintsbaseball.com. Because of programming obligations, the game will be on 1360 KSCJ tape delayed at 7:05 and the same time on xsbaseball.com.
American Association Stories from July 15, 2008
- Nick Singleton leads X's past St. Paul 11-0 - Sioux City Explorers
- American Association recap-- July 15 - AA
- Wingnuts' early offense sinks Cats 5-3 - Fort Worth Cats
- Airhogs win via forfeit after lenthy rain delay - Grand Prairie AirHogs
- Singleton and Cheek combine to shutout Saints 11-0 - Sioux City Explorers
- Saltdogs falter in rain-shortened game - Lincoln Saltdogs
- El Paso Draws Series Even at One with 4-2 Win - Pensacola Pelicans
- Saints Avoid No-Hitter, but Not Shutout, Lose 11-0 - St. Paul Saints
- Rain shortens Canaries latest win - Sioux Falls Canaries
- Pelicans Conduct USSSA Skills Competition - Pensacola Pelicans
- Saints Turning the Tables, Changing Giveaway Night to Takeaway Night - St. Paul Saints
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