Wingnuts Outlast Pheasants

SIOUX FALLS, SD- The Wichita Wingnuts beat the Sioux Falls Pheasants 8-7 at Sioux Falls Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Wingnuts scored three times before the Pheasants ever came to the plate.  Eric Williams was hit by a pitch to lead off the game.  Williams stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch by Pheasants' starter Brian Flores.  Williams scored on Ryan Patterson's double to right-center field.  Josh Horn drove in Patterson with a double off the bottom of the center field wall.  After stealing third, Horn came in on Mario Delgado's RBI groundout.

Sioux Falls loaded the bases with no outs in the second and brought in two runs on a sacrifice fly by Eddy Rodriguez and an RBI single by Tim Hutting.

With two outs and no one on in the third, Horn doubled to right-center.  Delgado singled on a line drive to left-center to plate Horn and re-extend the Wingnuts' lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, Brandon Sing led off with a single to center.  Trevor Lawhorn followed with a two-run home run to center field to tie the game.

Singles from Eric Williams and Josh Horn set the stage for a three-run home run to left by Delgado in the top of the fifth to put the Wingnuts in front 7-4.

Lawhorn and Hunter Jobes hit back-to-back home runs off of Will Morgan in the bottom of the sixth to slice the lead to 7-6.  Eddy Rodriguez followed with a double to put the tying run on second.  Dustin Pease came in from the bullpen and worked out of the jam, stranding the tying run on third base.

Steve Pearson doubled home Chris Colton from second with a drive to center field in the top of the eighth to give the Wingnuts their third lead of the night.

Cephas Howard bounced back from Tuesday night to pitch a scoreless bottom of the eighth and pinned the tying run on second to end the inning.

Justin Dowdy was dominant in the ninth, striking out the side, to earn his fourth save of the year.  Luke Massetti started for the Wingnuts and allowed four runs on nine hits in five innings while taking a no-decision.  Dustin Pease earned the win relief.  Travis Kane took the loss for the Pheasants.

The Wingnuts and Pheasants finish their series on Thursday at 7:05 p.m.  Right-hander Ben Graham makes his professional debut while the Pheasants go with lefty Ryan Rodriguez.  All the action can be heard locally on Oldies 93.5 KWME and worldwide at www.kleyam.com  The Wingnuts open a three-game series at home versus Lincoln on Friday at 7:05 p.m.  For tickets, call the Wingnuts' office at (316) 264-NUTS.

-Wingnuts-