South Bend SilverHawks at Lansing Lugnuts
April 16th, 2004
| South Bend |
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3 |
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7 |
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| Lansing |
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9 |
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LOB SB-5, LAN-7, 2B-Dopirak, HR-Varela (Marmol/4th/solo), Gonzalez (Campusano/7th/3 run), Fox (3rd/2 run), CS-Reynolds, Gonzalez, Walker
WP-Marmol, HBP-Garcia (Marmol), Chirinos (Coffin)
U-Cory Blaser, Gregory Tucker
T-2:36, A-7,517
South Bend Tribune
The South Bend Silver Hawks' first road trip of the 2004 campaign started on a sour note Friday night.
Lansing tallied a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to edge South Bend, 5-4, in Midwest League action.
The setback drops South Bend (6-2) into a first place tie with the Lugnuts (6-2) in the Eastern Division.
Faced with a 4-0 deficit, the Hawks got on the board in the fourth inning as Edgar Varela connected for his third homer of the season.
The Hawks then drew even in the seventh when Carlos Gonzalez blasted a three run round tripper, his first of the year.
Reliever Aric LeClair (0-1) suffered the loss for South Bend.
Hawks' starter Chris Kinsey allowed four runs on five hits with three strikeouts over five innings, while Linco Garcia and Gonzalez had two hits apiece.
Lansing State Journal
by Mark Feather
Lugnuts fans couldn't have asked for a much more exciting Opening Day at Oldsmobile Park.
Lansing let an early 4-0 lead slip away but rallied for a run in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 victor over the South Bend Silver Hawks.
The Lugnuts (6-2) and the Silver Hawks (6-2) came into the game with the top two record in the Midwest League and played accordingly. "It was really a great game, going back and forth," said Lugnuts outfielder Chris Walker, who knocked in the winning run. "That's baseball for you. You want every game to come down to the wire, that last inning or at bat. That's when it's great."
With one out in the ninth and runners on the corner, Walker drove an inside fastball from South Bend reliever Aric LeClair to right field for the game winner andn his second hit of the day.
"(Hitting coach Mike) Micucci said that he was going to come in on me with the pitch because he had been doing that," Walker said. "I said I was going to sit on it. Then sure enough, he came inside and I was able to make good contact."
Walker's hit drove in third baseball Alfredo Francisco, who reached with a single and advanced to third on a base hit by shortstop Carlos Rojas.
"Everybody chipped in and we got a good win in a well played game." Lugs manager Julio Garcia said, "Both clubs played very well, I hope all the game are like this because it puts the players in the type of situations that it's going to take to win a championship."
The Lugnuts got and early jump on the Silver Hawks, scoring one run in the first inning on three hits, Outfielder Kyle Boyer singled to right field to score Walker, who had led off with a line drive up the middle.
Lansing extended it's lead to 4-0 in the third inning on an RBI double by first baseman Brian Dopirak and a two run homer by catcher Jake Fox. Both Fox and Dopirak finished with two hits.
The 400 foot shot to centerfield was Fox's second home run in as many days and a team high third of the season.
"I'll tell you what, I love this park," said Fox, who hit a home run in his first game at Olds Park last year. "Normally, I'm a guy who will hit to the corners. But here you can really see it. It's well lit and there's a great backdrop. i really love hitting here."
It looked as if Lansing was going to roll after Fox's homer, with starting pitcher Carlos Marmol pitching well.
Marmol had given up one run on three hits and a walk going into the sixth inning. He was pulled with one out, after giving up a walk and a single, in favor of reliever Ed Campusano.
The game was quickly tied up when the first batter Campusano faced, Carlos Gonzalez, lined a three run homer to right.
"Ed could have really hung his head about that one, but he didn't. He stuck in there and bounced back," Garcia said.
"I think a lot of times when something like that happends it's just the excitement of the game and the crowd. Ed throws strikes and that's why you like to have him in there. But sometimes you get a little to excited.
Campusano pitched 1 2/3 innings, striking out one batter and allowing two hits and a walk.
Lansing closer Adalberto Mendez earned his first win of the year, giving up one hit and striking out one during a scoreless ninth inning.