Sioux City 6, Lincoln 4 – Box
In a game that was filled with home runs, Lincoln simply could not handle the hot bat of Sioux City 3B Bryan Pounds (pictured), who tallied three home runs and four RBIs in his four at bats in the Explorers’ 6-4 victory over the Saltdogs. Pounds’s efforts were complemented by LF Yusuke Inoguchi’s 3-of-3, 2 RBI performance—a combination that was enough to hold off a ninth inning rally from the Saltdogs.
Sioux City scored first in the bottom of the third off of an RBI single from Inoguchi. Lincoln then answered in the fourth with home runs from 2B David Espinosa and 1B Dennis Raben. Pounds hit a homer in the fourth, the sixth, and the eighth. Along with another RBI from Inoguchi off of a ground rule double in the seventh, the X’s secured a 6-2 lead going into the ninth. Espinosa got on base in the ninth just before Raben hit a second home run for Lincoln, but the rally ended there and the Saltdogs came up short. Raben finished 2-of-4 with two home runs and three RBIs.
RHP Dan Jurik earned his first win of the season, pitching six innings and earning just two runs along with six strikeouts.
Grand Prairie 6, Amarillo 1 – Box
Behind a strong day on the mound from RHP Jared Mortensen and a couple of early runs, Grand Prairie was able to take an early lead that helped them defeat Amarillo 6-1. Mortensen earned his first win of the season with eight strikeouts and just one earned run in six innings. 2B Brandon Pinckney’s two-run home run came in just the second at-bat of the game and gave the AirHogs the lead that they never looked back from.
In the top of the 4th, 3B Juan M. Richardson hit an RBI double that increased the AirHogs’ lead to 3-1. Later in the inning, RF Kenny Held added the icing on the cake with a three-run home run, which marked his first homer of the season.
Amarillo C Chris Grossman went 4-of-4 on the day, providing the Sox with their single run off of his RBI single in the bottom of the third.
Wichita 5, Sioux Falls 4 – Box
The Wingnuts narrowly edged the Canaries 5-4 in a tight game that saw both teams trading runs throughout the whole game. An RBI single from 2B Jake Kahaulelio in the top of the ninth gave Wichita the extra run it needed in order to secure a 5-4 victory. The win marks Wichita’s fourth in a row.
After Sioux Falls scored in the first inning, Wichita answered with a home run from C Cole Armstrong in the top of the second. In the fourth, Wichita gained a momentary lead before an RBI off of a sacrifice fly from Canaries CF Nick Van Stratten tied the game up once again in the following frame. In the fifth, Kahauleliio’s first RBI single of the game gave Wichita another run, but then Sioux Falls DH John Alonso’s home run brought things level again later in the inning. The teams still remained deadlocked after each scored another run in the sixth. Kahaulelio was 3-of-5 at bat with two RBIs, one of which was the game-winning run in the ninth.
Though his team lost, Sioux Falls RHP Ben Moore pitched seven strikeouts in his 5.2 innings and he now leads the league with 24 total strikeouts so far this season.
Kansas City 9, Laredo 6 – Box
The T-Bones overpowered the Lemurs 9-5, due in large part to the superb batting performance of DH Matt Padgett throughout the game. Padgett helped Kansas City start off with a strong 3-0 lead after hitting a two-run home run in the top of the first. Laredo CF Sawyer Carroll helped the Lemurs get on the board with a triple later in the first. Following two more Laredo runs in the fourth, Padgett once again earned his team the lead with a two-RBI double in the fifth.
Laredo kept Kansas City’s lead to just one run with a score of their own in the fifth. But the T-Bones tallied an insurmountable lead with a big seventh inning that included another two-RBI double from Padgett, an RBI double from LF Brandon Jones, and an RBI triple from 2B Jairo Perez. After a suspension of the game in the top of the eighth due to a power outage, the Lemurs scored once more but never contested Kansas City’s lead.
Padgett finished the game 3-of-5 with a home run, 2 doubles, and 6 RBIs.
Gary SouthShore 6, El Paso 3 – Box
Gary SouthShore’s defense was able to hold the Diablos to just two runs in the RailCats 6-3 victory in El Paso. LHP Ari Ronick earned the win, pitching seven innings for the RailCats and allowing just one run.
Two separate errors by El Paso infielders allowed the RailCats to reach an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Diablos RF Bryan Joynt hit a home run in the bottom of the first to cut into Gary SouthShore’s early lead, but the rest of the game was all about the RailCats. RBI singles from SS Zac Mitchell and 3B Brian Kolb, in addition to two runs scored off of sacrifice flies, increased the RailCats lead to 6-1 by the seventh inning. An RBI double from Diablos 1B Jonathan Cisneros and a run from DH JJ Muse off of an error gave El Paso two late runs, but it was too little too late.
St. Paul, Quebec – Postponed
The game between St. Paul and Quebec has been postponed due to rain. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday, June 1 beginning at 4:00 PM.
Fargo-Moorhead, Winnipeg – Postponed
The game between Fargo-Moorhead and Winnipeg has been postponed due to rain. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday, June 1 beginning at 5:00 PM.
