Wingnuts Rally in Ninth, Win in 13th

Published on July 23, 2011 under American Association (AA)
Wichita Wingnuts News Release


WICHITA, KS- The Wichita Wingnuts beat the El Paso Diablos 6-5 in 13 innings at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium on Friday night.

Trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Edwin Bellorin clocked a long solo home run to left-center off of Diablos' starter Scott Hodsdon to tie the game. The drive was Bellorin's second homer of the night and banked off the video board beyond the outfield wall.

Each bullpen came up with big outs over the first three extra frames before Wichita won it in the bottom of the 13th. Facing reliever Josh Grady, Peter Barrows led off with a four-pitch walk. Bellorin sacrificed Barrows to second, and on the next pitch, Jose Duran lined a sharp single to center that scored Barrows with the winning run.

Josh Dew earned credit for the win, working two and two-thirds shutout innings. Dew struck out four, walked none, and allowed just an infield single.

Grady took the loss, allowing one earned run in one and two-thirds innings.

El Paso scored twice in the top of the second to take a 2-0 lead against Wingnuts' starter Chad Sherman, with infield singles from Alberto Espinosa and Maikol Gonzalez driving in the runs.

Bellorin hit his first home run in the bottom of the second, a high flyball to left against Hodsdon that sliced El Paso's lead in half.

After El Paso scratched out a run in the fourth on a bases loaded walk to Stephen Douglas, Josh Workman hit an opposite field home run off the the scoredboard in left field in the bottom of the inning that again brought Wichita within one.

The Wingnuts took their first lead of the night in the fifth. Bellorin led off with a single to center and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Duran. Mike Conroy sent Bellorin to third with an infield single. Josh Horn followed with a two-run double down the right field line that gave the Wingnunts a 5-4 advantage.

El Paso took advantage of two two-out errors in the top of the seventh to score the tying and go-ahead runs.

Sherman took a no-decision, working the first six innings. Sherman allowed three earned runs on four hits, walking seven, and striking out six. Sherman settled in during the middle innings, retiring the final seven batters to face him after the bases loaded walk to Douglas.

Hodsdon also took a no-decision, working nine full innings and allowing five earned runs. Hodsdon allowed nine hits, two walks, struck out four, and threw 134 pitches.

Jared Simon, Kendy Batista, Logan Hoch, and Marcos Tabata joined Dew in combining for seven relief innings without allowing an earned run.

Hoch, a left-hander, was signed before the game. The 24-year old spent the last season and a half in the Detroit Tigers' organization, averaging 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Hoch pitched two years at Wichita State University from 2008-2010, redshirting in 2009. The Wichita native worked to a 2.18 ERA as a senior for the Shockers last season before the Tigers selected him in the 30th round. Prior to the game, the Wingnuts also traded Brandon Mathes to the Frontier League's Florence Freedom in exchange for a player to be named later.

The series continues Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. Derek Blacksher takes the mound across Diablos' righty Luis Montano. For tickets, call the Wingnuts' office at (316) 264-NUTS or visit the Wingnuts' official website at www.wichitawingnuts.com.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Association Stories from July 23, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central