Kansas City 5, St. Paul 4 – Box
The T-Bones found themselves victorious Thursday night after much tug and war with the Saints. Saints 2B Dan Kaczrowski got the scoring started with an RBI-single in the second inning. But in the third, 3B Nate Tenbrink gave the T-Bones a 2-1 lead with a two-RBI double. The Saints retook the lead in the fifth inning after 3B Ryan Lashley hit a two-RBI double. Later on in the sixth, solo homers from LF Adam Bailey and DH Kyle Robinson pushed the T-Bones back in front. However, St. Paul tied it at 4-4 in the seventh when DH Ian Gac scored an unearned run.
In the end, Kansas City won the back and forth in the top of the ninth – 1B Jake Blackwood hit the go-ahead RBI-single to seal the victory. The Saints had 14 hits while Kansas City had eight. St. Paul had no errors while the T-Bones had one.
Sioux Falls 5, Lincoln 4 – Box
Sioux Falls edged the Saltdogs 5-4 in a back and stopped a late Lincoln rally. Lincoln opened the game with two runs in the first inning – 2B Aaron Payne had an RBI-double and then he later scored a run on a passed ball. In the bottom half, Sioux Falls C Steve Sulcoski hit a sacrifice fly to cut it to 2-1. And then in the third inning, RF Jason Repko hit a home run to tie the game. Lincoln regained the lead in the fifth inning when Payne hit an RBI-single.
But Sulcoski responded with an RBI-single in the sixth to tie the game again and then DH Jerome Pena hit an RBI single in the seventh to make it 4-3 Canaries. But Lincoln tied it at 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth. However, Sioux Falls landed the last punch when 3B Brett Balkan scored off an error in the top of the ninth inning. The Saltdogs had bases loaded in the ninth, but couldn’t summon any offense.
Joplin 8, Grand Prarie 2 – Box
The Blasters used some early offense to defeat Grand Prairie 8-2 Thursday night. Joplin began the game with three runs in the first inning – CF Oscar Mesa hit an RBI-double, 1B Matt Padgett had an RBI-single and 3B Omar Luna added a sacrifice fly. In the second, AirHogs Justin Byrd hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 3-1. But Padgett returned in the bottom half to hit a two-run homer to give Joplin a 5-1 edge.
The Blasters get the onslaught going with three more runs in the third. 2B Aaron Brill scored on an error and DH Jairo Perez hit a two-run homer. The AirHogs had six hits in the game while Joplin had 11. Each team had one error. C Carlos Ramirez led Joplin with three hits.
Laredo 18, Amarillo 9 – Box
Laredo blasted Amarillo with a ton of offense in an 18-9 victory Thursday night. The Lemurs were up 1-0 after the first inning thanks to a DH Kevin Taylor RBI-single. Amarillo responded with two runs in the bottom of the first with a two-run homer by 1B Rene Levert. But in the top of the second, the Lemurs scored four more runs to make it 5-2. 3B Juan Silverio, LF Ty Morrison and 2B Abel Nieves had RBI-single and C Phil Phol had an RBI-double.
Laredo then scored four more runs in the fourth – Taylor hit a three-run homer and CF Drew Martinez hit a sacrifice fly to make it 9-2 Lemurs. The Thunderheads answered with two runs in the bottom half to cut it to 9-4. After that, Amarillo could not keep up with the Laredo offense. The Lemurs put up two runs in the seventh, three runs in the eighth, and four runs in the ninth to finish off the Thunderheads.
Gary SouthShore 5, New Jersey 2 – Box
Gary SouthShore only needed eight hits to take down New Jersey 5-2 Thursday night. Jackals DH Jared Schlehuber hit an RBI-single in the second inning to give New Jersey the lead. But Gary SouthShore responded with two runs in the bottom half – SS Jarred Mederos and CF Matt Hibbert both had RBI-singles. And then the RailCats hit the Jackals with three more runs in the fifth with 1B Dustin Geiger hitting an RBI-double and later scoring an unearned run, and then RF Adam Taylor scoring on a wild pitch.
New Jersey starting pitcher Anthony Claggett went six innings, gave up seven hits, five earned runs, and struck-out six batters. Gary SouthShore pitcher Rene Solis went 7.2 innings, gave up six hits, two earned runs and struck-out six batters.
Wichita at Sioux City — Postponed
The game between Wichita and Sioux City was postponed due to rain. The game will be made up as part of a 7-inning doubleheader Friday evening with the first game beginning at 5:05 central time.
Fans can watch select American Association games live and for free at www.americanassociationbaseball.tv.
