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Williamson, Williams lead Caps to fifth straight win

July 12, 2009 - American Association (AA)
Shreveport-Bossier Captains News Release


SHREVEPORT, La. - After All-Star Jakob Cunningham closed out the Shreveport-Bossier Captains' 4-0 win on Saturday night, the Captains went right back to the All-Star well on Sunday to try to sweep the Wichita Wingnuts. Starter Logan Williamson, who will be headed to Grand Prairie on July 21, pitched eight innings of two-run baseball and the Captains' third All-Star, Justin Dowdy, pitched a three-batter ninth for the save as Shreveport-Bossier won a tidy 3-2 game to push its season-high winning streak to five games and complete the sweep over the first-half North Division champions.

Shortstop Dan Williams broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI single in the fourth inning off Gabe Medina (7-3) to drive in what turned out to be the final run of the game. Williams now has nine RBIs on the year on only six hits, finding good times to get his knocks.

The first two innings were far from easy for Williamson (7-2), who has now won six straight starts. He gave up a leadoff single to Josh Horn in the first, walked Nick Blasi and threw a wild pitch to put runners at second and third with no one out. But Williamson got a comebacker from Greg Porter that he turned into an out on Horn between third and home, struck out Dustan Mohr for the second out, and got a harmless flyout to right by Kelly Hunt to end the inning without giving up a run.

The Captains (27-27, 5-1 2nd half) then made the most of an early opportunity, as Jonathan Reynoso and Dwayne White singled off Medina to start the bottom of the first. After Christopher Garcia struck out, Medina hit Andres Rodriguez to load the bases, but Selwyn Langaigne grounded into a fielder's choice to cut off Reynoso at home. With two outs, Jose Torres came up and bounced a high hopper over the head of third baseman Michael Thompson to score two runs and give Shreveport-Bossier a 2-0 lead.

Wichita (33-22, 1-6) did manage to push across the tying runs off Williamson in the second, though, as the Wingnuts again had second and third with no outs after hits by Joseph Muich and Stephen Pearson. After Thompson grounded out to third to keep the runners from advancing, Brenan Herrera hit a grounder to second to plate Muich, and Horn laid down a bunt single that Williamson slipped on his way to fielding before throwing away to tie the game.

After a scoreless third, Kevin Griffin ripped a one-out double in the fourth off Medina to bring up Williams, who came through with the clutch single to give Shreveport-Bossier the lead for good.

Aside from the first two innings, the Wingnuts only had two runners on again in the seventh, with a pair of two-out singles by Horn and Blasi. But Porter, the league's leading hitter at .370 coming into play, popped out to Richard Paz in foul territory to end the threat.

Williamson pitched a 1-2-3 eighth before Dowdy came on in the ninth. The lefty closer got a broken-bat popup from pinch-hitter Patrick Brooks to start the inning on a nice catch by Paz, before giving up a single to Thompson, who homered against Dowdy on Friday. But with the tying run on base, Herrera hit a tailor-made double-play ball to short, as Williams started a 6-4-3 double play to give the Captains the sweep.

Notes: The Captains evened their record against the North Division at 6-6 with the sweep...Shreveport-Bossier is at .500 overall for the first time since a May 27 doubleheader sweep at Grand Prairie...Wichita is 2-7 against the South Division...Torres now has a nine-game hitting streak...The sweep was the Captains' first of the year...The Captains outscored the Wingnuts 12-6 in the series and outhit them 26-20.

The Shreveport-Bossier Captains have a day off Monday before welcoming in the Pensacola Pelicans for three games starting on Tuesday, July 14. There will be free admission to Fair Grounds Field that evening, courtesy of AEP SWEPCO, with the Captains also celebrating "Christmas in July." Fans coming are encouraged to bring donations to the Salvation Army as well. All games are broadcast on ESPN Radio, KRMD-1340 AM and streamed live on supertalk1340.com, with streaming video provided by NiftyTV on www.sbcaptains.com for all home games and select road games. For information on tickets, promotions, advertising, and other opportunities with the Captains, check out the team's Web site at www.sbcaptains.com, or call the Fair Grounds Field office at (318) 636-5555.



American Association Stories from July 12, 2009


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