Wingnuts Wear out Sox in High-Scoring Affair
June 14, 2014 - American Association (AA)
Wichita Wingnuts News Release
AMARILLO, TX - By the time Friday night's game at National Bank Sox Stadium reached the ninth inning, cars passing by on the highway that caught a glimpse of the scoreboard probably assumed there was a football game taking place inside. That wasn't the case, however, it was simply an offensive clinic put on by the Wichita Wingnuts as they secured a 15-7 victory over the Amarillo Sox and racked up a season-high 19 hits.
The Wingnuts (20-9) scored early and often against Sox starter, and former Wingnut, Derek Blacksher and the rest of the Amarillo pitching staff. By the time the night was over, every hitter in the starting lineup had registered at least one hit, five tallied more than one RBI, five scored multiple runs, and six had a multi-hit game.
The scoring began in the third inning with a bases-loaded two-RBI single by Carlo Testa off of Blacksher to jump in front 2-0. Testa would end up going 4-5 with two RBI and scored three runs. J.T. Wise scored Chris McMurray with a double down the left field line in the next inning to increase the lead by one run.
The Sox (9-18) were able to scratch across a couple of runs in the fourth inning by taking advantage of multiple defensive miscues by the Wingnuts, who came into the game leading the American Association in fielding percentage. Kyle Nichols and Keith Brachold both reached on errors to kick the frame off and then Kyle Bellows singled to load the bases with nobody out. Kevin Mahoney grounded into a fielder's choice in which the Wingnuts threw out the lead runner at the plate for the first out. Jeff Farnham hit a hard groundball to third that took a nasty hop and hit Taylor Oldham in the side of the head. The ball caromed back to pitcher Justin Klipp who threw home for the force out, but the ball bounced out Wise's mitt and rolled away, allowing two runs to cross the plate and the lead to shrink to 3-2. Oldham left the game, but was in good spirits afterwards and shouldn't miss considerable time.
Klipp (4-1), who began the game second in the league in ERA, allowed nothing after the sloppy inning and worked his way to another quality start by giving up no earned runs in 6.0 innings on the mound and surrendering just four hits. The Wingnuts have now received a quality start in 20 of their first 29 games. Klipp saw his earned run average shrink even further to a league-best 0.94.
Wichita hung a crooked number in back-to-back innings in the fifth and sixth. In the first of the two, McMurray struck the initial blow with a two-RBI single that scored both Ryan Khoury and Testa. The next batter, Wise, pummeled a pitch over the wall to left field that scored three more and put the visiting ahead 8-2. The catcher went 3-4 and drove in four runs while scoring two. The next inning was capped off by a two-RBI double by Brent Clevlen that extended the cushion to 10-2.
The lead would reach as high as 10 after a two-run home run by Colt Loehrs made it 12-2, but Amarillo cut that in half in the bottom half of the same inning. In Alan Williams' second inning out of the bullpen, Amarillo had seven consecutive hitters reach base as they scored five runs on six hits and one walk. Kevin Hooper brought in Mike Zouzalik for damage control and the right-hander induced a 5-3 double play on his first pitch and struck out the next batter to make the decision pay off and escape the inning up 12-7.
The Wingnuts added three more runs in the top of the ninth against former major leaguer Josh Spence topushthe lead to the final margin. Clevlen and McMurray were responsible for the runs coming in. Daniel Bennett worked a scoreless ninth inning to seal the win.
The same teams will play again on Saturday night with RHP Jason Van Skike (2-0) of the Wingnuts facing LHP Dayne Quist of Amarillo at 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard on 92.7 KWME or by heading to wichitawingnuts.com and clicking the "Listen Live" link. For information on season tickets, group outings, and party packages, call the Wingnuts' main office at (316) 264-NUTS, or visit the Wingnuts' official website at www.wichitawingnuts.com.
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