Vipers Win in Eight Innings

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


The Calgary Vipers scored four runs over the middle innings on their way to a 4-3 victory over the Gary SouthShore RailCats in a weather-shortened game on Wednesday night. Heavy rain caused nearly three hours of delays and eventually ended the game after the eighth inning with the Vipers up by a run.

Newly acquired Viper, Phil Sobkow (1-1) earned the win for Calgary after pitching nearly two innings in relief, allowing just one hit. Ryan Brandt (2-2) pitched one inning of relief for the RailCats and allowed one run on two hits to take the loss.

The RailCats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning with a pair of runs of Vipers' starter Tom Lyons. Ryan Graham led off the inning with a single to left field and advanced to second on a groundout by Michael Coles. Graham was then on board for a Jermaine Allensworth two-run homer to left field that gave Gary the lead.

Calgary cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth when Nelson Castro got the offense going with a triple to the gap in right-center field and came in to score on an RBI single to center by second-baseman Manabu Kuramochi.

The Vipers then took the lead in the top of the fifth inning when the RailCats defence committed two errors on the same play, allowing the Vipers to score a pair of runs.

With two-out already in the inning, Jeff Butts and Castro hit back-to-back singles to put two runners on base.

Kuramochi then followed with a single of his own to left field that somehow got through the legs of left-fielder Steve Haake allowing Butts to score. After retrieving the ball, Haake then delivered a throw to second base that was too high and allowed Castro to score to make it 3-2.

Gary evened the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth when Allensworth laid down a sacrifice bunt that scored Graham from third base with the tying run.

Calgary though, scored the eventual winning run in the top of the sixth when Brandon Rogers drove a 3-0 pitch to left field for a base-hit and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Drew Miller before Josh Carter drove him in with an RBI single.

The rain then moved in and delayed the game in the top of the eighth for 2 hours and 20 minutes. Following the delay, the teams were able to play out the rest of a scoreless eighth inning but were again forced into a delay just before beginning the ninth.

The second delay, which lasted half an hour, was enough for the umpires who called the game at 12:35 am (CDT), giving the Vipers the eight-inning victory.

With the win, Calgary moves to 10-9 in the second half and claims the series victory in Gary. The Vipers will now move on to Joliet for a series against the JackHammers before returning home to once again square off with the Gary SouthShore RailCats on Monday afternoon.

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Northern League Stories from August 3, 2006


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