July 24
Wichita 8, Amarillo 4 (Completion of suspended game)
Tuesday’s game between Amarillo and Wichita was suspended in the top of the seventh, with the game tied, 4-4. When play resumed on Wednesday evening, the teams remained scoreless until the bottom of the ninth. That is when Jake Kahaulelio broke the tie in dramatic fashion. Kahaulelio walked to the dish with the bases loaded and hit a game-ending, walk-off grand slam to give Wichita an 8-4 victory.
Wichita 4, Amarillo 1
After the exciting finish to the suspended contest earlier in the evening, the Wingnuts kept their momentum rolling with a 4-1 victory over the Sox. Wichita starter Junior Guerra mowed down the Amarillo hitters over seven innings. The right-hander kept the Sox off the scoreboard and struck out seven batters to pick up the victory.
Wichita’s Ryan Khoury and Abel Nieves drove the offense. Khoury hit his second home run of the year. Nieves, on the other hand, led the Wingnuts in run production with a pair of RBI on a third-inning single.
Trois-Rivieres 3, Lincoln 1
Luis Munoz was on the winning end of a tremendous pitcher’s duel between Trois-Rivieres and Lincoln. Munoz pitched seven shutout innings to lead the Aigles to a 3-1 victory. The right-hander only gave up two hits and struck out three, as he shut down the Saltdogs hitters.
Saltdogs starter Stephen Bougher also turned in a strong performance on the mound. The righty gave up one run on a fifth-inning RBI single by Cam Kneeland. Otherwise, Bougher kept Trois-Rivieres off the scoreboard on six hits, though he took the loss.
Sioux Falls 4, Winnipeg 1
All of Sioux Falls’ runs came from one swing, but it was enough to beat Winnipeg on Wednesday night. JP Ramirez hit a grand slam in the second inning, leading the Canaries to a 4-1 victory.
Left-hander Adam Champion was the beneficiary of the Ramirez blast. The Canaries’ starter pitched six innings of scoreless baseball en route to his fifth win. Champion struck out three Goldeyes and surrendered seven hits in the winning effort.
St. Paul 7, Fargo-Moorhead 6
St. Paul struggled offensively until the seventh inning. That is when the Saints struck for five runs to beat Fargo-Moorhead, 7-6. St. Paul trailed by four entering the seventh, but tied the game on just two swings. Dwight Childs and Trevor Hairgrove hit back-to-back two-run doubles to even the score. Then, Brad Boyer gave the Saints the lead with an RBI single later in the inning.
The Saints needed one more run to secure the win. Ole Sheldon hit a solo home run in the eighth, which provided St. Paul with an insurance run at the time. But, the RedHawks put together a rally and scored on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth, cutting St. Paul’s lead to one run. Saints reliever Jon Plefka shut the door to end the game, but the final Fargo-Moorhead run made Sheldon’s homer the difference in the game.
Grand Prairie 4, El Paso 3
A walk-off walk might be anti-climactic, but Grand Prairie is not complaining. The AirHogs beat El Paso, 4-3, when Palmer Karr worked a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth to score Bubba Dotson.
The base on balls broke a 3-3 tie after Grand Prairie’s Rian Kiniry evened the score in the eighth. Kiniry singled to right field to score Kenny Held. Kiniry was thrown out trying to stretch the single into a double. But, his run-scoring single was enough to set the AirHogs up for the win the following inning.
Gary SouthShore 2, Sioux City 1
Left-hander Alain Quijano proved difficult for Sioux City to handle. Gary SouthShore’s starter pitched eight innings and only surrendered one run, as the RailCats beat the Explorers, 2-1. The X’s tallied just five hits against Quijano, who improved to 9-4 on the season.
Both of Gary SouthShore’s runs came off the bat of Mike Massaro. The right-fielder hit a two-run single in the seventh to vault the RailCats over Sioux City. Prior to that hit, the X’s had led, 1-0, on a third-inning sacrifice fly.
Laredo 21, Kansas City 0
The Lemurs’ offense was nothing short of relentless on Wednesday, as they pounded Kansas City, 21-0. Laredo registered 26 hits and six different Lemurs recorded multi-RBI games in the offensive outburst.
Catcher Brian Peterson drove in five runs, highlighted by a grand slam in Laredo’s nine-run third inning. John Alonso was the next productive Laredo hitter with four RBI. In terms of total hits, John Allen led the pack with four hits, including a pair of doubles.
In such a game dominated by offense, it was easy to miss the performance of Laredo’s starting pitcher. But, Greg Wilborn was almost as dominant as his bat-wielding teammates. The left-hander pitched a complete game shutout, striking out five T-Bones hitters. He allowed eight hits and walked four, but Wilborn still kept Kansas City off the scoreboard.
