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Road Trip Opens With Ninth Inning Loss

May 27, 2006 - American Association (AA)
St. Joseph Blacksnakes News Release


Sioux City, IA-St. Joe began the Memorial holiday weekend with a gut-wrenching ninth inning loss in Sioux City, 4-3. It was the third ninth-inning loss for the Blacksnakes (5-9) in the season's first two weeks and ended the Explorers' (6-8) five-game losing streak.

Leading 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth, former Explorer JC Huguet (0-1) walked the first two men in the inning before striking out Kevin Henry. Jorge Moreno followed with his fourth home run of the year on a full count pitch to win it for Sioux City. Two pitches earlier Moreno hit a high foul ball near the left field out of play boundary and the Blacksnakes defense couldn't make the tough catch.

Sioux City struck for a first inning run on a Kevin Henry run-scoring triple. But that would be all Donovan Graves would allow them over eight innings.

The 'Snakes got even at one with a run in the third on Mark Burke's groundout. A couple pitches earlier Scooter Jordan had forced a wild pitch by taking off for third on a ball in the dirt allowing Burke to score him with a groundball.

St. Joe would take their first lead in the sixth when Ben Thomas doubled in Jake Whitesides for a 2-1 lead. They added another on a Cody Nowlin RBI in the seventh to lead 3-1 but stranded the bases loaded that frame.

But it didn't seem to matter as Graves coasted through eight, retiring the last 13 batters and 19 of the last 21 hitters he faced. In the longest outing for a 'Snake pitcher to this point, Graves allowed just five hits and one run without walking anyone and striking out five.

But that was until the ninth. The loss went to J.C. Huguet (0-1) with J.D. Scholten (2-0) getting the win for Sioux City with a scoreless ninth.

The 'Snakes now will try to regroup Saturday night as the series continues at 7:05pm. Andrew Edwards (0-0) will start for St. Joe. Sioux Falls will send Trevor Marcotte (0-1) to the hill. You can catch all the action live at www.stjoeblacksnakes.com beginning at 6:45pm with the Heartland Health Pre-Game show.

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