PCL1 New Orleans Baby Cakes

Z's Fall to Sky Sox in Extra Innings

July 31, 2013 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
New Orleans Baby Cakes News Release


Tim Wheeler's sacrifice fly in the 10th inning plated the winning run as the Colorado Springs Sky Sox beat the New Orleans Zephyrs, 5-4 on Wednesday night.

Xavier Nady led off the 10th inning with a bloop double to right, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Reid Brignac and scored on Wheeler's fly out to right.

Logan Kensing (2-3) worked around a two-out single by Kevin Mattison in the bottom of the 10th to preserve the one-run lead, earning the victory.

The Zephyrs struck for a pair of first-inning runs, as Sky Sox starter Sean Gallagher walked leadoff hitter Bryan Petersen, then hit Jake Smolinski with a pitch with one out. Kevin Kouzmanoff laced a double to right field to score Petersen, and Joe Mahoney followed with an RBI single.

Smolinski, the Zephyrs' home run leader, was removed from the game before the start of the second inning.

Z's starter Jay Jackson bounced back from a rocky first outing at Zephyr Field, when he allowed six runs in the first inning to Nashville on July 21, to keep the Sky Sox scoreless through five innings.

Jackson stranded runners at second and third with no outs in the fourth. He got Nady on a fly ball to shallow left before Brignac flied out to right, and Petersen threw out Ryan Wheeler attempting to score from third on a perfect throw up the third base line for the double play.

Colorado Springs got on the board in the sixth on Ben Paulsen's solo homer with one out, and the bats quickly awakened. Nady doubled and scored on a single by Brignac to tie the game.

Nick Green allowed a grounder by Tim Wheeler to scoot past him for an error, and pinch-hitter Hernan Iribarren's sacirifce fly scored the go-ahead run. Josh Rutledge then doubled down the right field line to score the fourth run of the inning and force Jackson from the game.

The Sky Sox turned to reliever Nick Schmidt in the bottom of the sixth, and New Orleans immediately tied the game on a two-run homer by Mattison, his fifth of the year. Mattison finished with three hits, his first multi-hit effort since June 16.

The game remained at 4-4 into the ninth, when the Sky Sox put runners at the corners with one out against Adam Reifer . But Reifer fanned Ryan Wheeler and Paulsen to end the threat, and the game went into extras, where the Zephyrs lost for only the third time in 12 extra-inning contests this season.

Reifer (1-1) was saddled with the loss, allowing one run and two hits in two innings with three strikeouts.

The Zephyrs and Sky Sox meet in the third game of the series on Thursday at 7 p.m.

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