Vipers win 8-7

Published on June 3, 2006 under Northern League (NL)
Calgary Vipers News Release


The Calgary Vipers and Joliet JackHammers traded runs for the entire game and when the dust settled it was the Vipers who came out on top with an 8-7 victory Friday night at Foothills Stadium. There were five lead changes in the game, the last coming in the bottom of the ninth when a wild play won the contest for the home squad.

With Drew Miller on first base and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Adam Shorsher struck out on an outside pitch but the ball got passed Joliet catcher Greg Stevens allowing Shorsher to reach first base and Miller to move up to second.

Two wild-throws later by the JackHammers defense, one trying to catch Shorsher at first and the other trying to gun down Miller at third, and Calgary was able to bring in the winning run.

Jon Huizinga (1-0) pitched the final two innings to pick up his first win of the year. Amad Stephens (0-1) was on the mound for the defensive breakdown and was saddled with the loss.

Joliet scored two runs in the first two innings to go up 2-0 early in the game. John Lackaff hit a homerun in the first off starter Frank James and former Viper J.D. Foust hit his first long-ball of the year in the second to give Joliet the lead.

James pitched 6 and 1/3 innings, giving up three earned runs on seven hits, he struck out one and walked one.

Calgary responded with a run in the bottom of the second and three in the third to go ahead 4-2. A two-run single by Miller in the third and an RBI double by Shorsher temporarily put Calgary ahead.

Joliet tied it at 4-4 in the fourth with RBI singles by Foust and Billy Boyer. The JackHammers then went up 5-4 in the fifth on a solo homerun by Chad Ehrnsberger.

Aaron McEachran scored on an error in the bottom of the fifth to even the score 5-5 before Josh Carter hit his fourth homerun of the year in the bottom of the seventh, a solo shot to left that put Calgary up 6-5.

Joliet again took the lead back in the eighth on a Foust double that drove in two runs. Foust had four RBIs in the game and was a triple short of the cycle.

Calgary evened it with a Manabu Kuramochi RBI single in the bottom of the eighth that scored Sam Rosario before the ninth inning drama that gave Calgary the win.

The Vipers and JackHammers will meet again Saturday afternoon at 1:35 PM at Foothills Stadium for the second game of the series. Evan Greusel (0-0) will return to the Viper lineup for his first start of the season.

The Vipers today released two pitchers and signed Lethbridge native Ken Falconer who played briefly with them in the 2005 season. Falconer was in the bullpen tonight as the Vipers open a three game home stand with the Joliet JackHammers.

Released today were veteran pitcher Klae Calvert and reliever Josh Daws. Calvert who has never been injured in his career has developed an elbow injury. He appeared in only two games and had an 0-1 record with a 5.73 ERA. Daws pitched in 7 games with an 18.90 ERA.

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Northern League Stories from June 3, 2006


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