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Two-out Rallies Lead to 7-1 Wizard Victory

April 3, 2008 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Fort Wayne TinCaps News Release


FORT WAYNE, IN---The Fort Wayne Wizards took advantage of two-out scoring opportunities in the first, second, and fifth innings on Thursday night in posting a 7-1 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts, in front of a 2008 Midwest League season-opening crowd of 2,603 at Memorial Stadium.

The first Fort Wayne scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the first inning.

Lead-off batter Luis Durango walked on a 3-1 pitch from Lansing starting pitcher Trystan Magnuson, and advanced to second base on an infield ground out.

After Lance Zawadzki lined out to short for the second out of the inning, designated hitter Angel Mercado came to the plate and launched a 2-2 pitch from Magnuson over the 16-foot high wall and into the tater sack in left field for a home run, scoring Durango in front of him, and giving the Wizards a 2-0 lead.

A two-out walk issued to Felix Carrasco, coupled with a double down the right-field line by Luis Martinez and a throwing error charged to Lugnut rightfielder Moises Sierra, enabled Fort Wayne to increase their lead to 3-0 in the second inning.

The score remained 3-0 until the Wizards came to bat against Lansing relief pitcher Chi-Hung Cheng in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Durango reached first base on a bunt single, advanced to second base on a wild pitch, moved up to third base on a long fly ball out to right field, and scored on a single by Zawadzki through the right side of the infield.

After Mercado grounded out, run-scoring singles by Yefri Carvajal and Brad Chalk sandwiched an RBI-double off the bat of Justin Baum, thus completing a four-run outburst, and increasing the Wizard advantage to 7-0.

That was more than enough of a margain for the Fort Wayne pitching duo of Jeremy Hefner and Allen Harrington.

Hefner dodged a bullet in the top of the first inning, when, after giving up a lead-off single to Justin Jackson and a one-out double to Darin Mastroianni, he struck out both Jonathan Jaspe and John Tolisano to quash the threat, stranding Mastroianni and Jackson at second and third base, respectively.

Hefner allowed just one other Lugnut to reach base in his five innings on the mound (a one-out single to Jackson in the top of the third).

Harrington came on in the top of the sixth inning and allowed just one run on three hits, while walking two and striking out six over the final four innings.

The run came as a result of a two-out single by Mastroianni in the top of the eighth, which scored Jackson (who doubled off the glove of Carvajal in right field leading off the inning) with what would turn out to be the only Lansing run of the game.

Hefner (1-0), who in addition to allowing three hits walked nobody and struck out five, gained credit for the win.

Magnuson (0-1), who gave up Mercado's home run in the bottom of the first inning, took the loss; with Harrington collecting a save.

Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Friday night, with the starting pitchers slated to be right-handers Jeremy McBryde of the Wizards and Kyle Ginley of the Lugnuts. The game can be heard on both the radio (ESPN Radio 1380) and the Internet (www.fortwaynewizards.com), beginning with the Hupe Insurance Services Pre-Game Show at 5:40 p.m. (EDT).

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