Saints Rally Against Wingnuts

ST. PAUL, MN- The Wichita Wingnuts lost 7-5 to the St. Paul Saints at Midway Stadium on Friday night.

The Saints inched their way to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third.  Coby Smith reached on an infield single and advanced to second when Wingnuts' starter Adam Cowart was charged with a balk.  An infield single from Josh Alley moved Smith to third.  Cowart threw a wild pitch that scored Smith.

The Wingnuts tied it in the next half inning after there were two outs and no one on base.  Jeff Christy chopped a single up the middle and then scored from first on an RBI double to right-center from Patrick Brooks.

Wichita used more clutch hitting to break the game open in the top of the fifth.  After Todd Mathison retired the first two hitters, Mario Delgado walked and moved to second on a single off the third base bag by Chris Colton.  Josh Horn singled to right to score Delgado and give the Wingnuts their first lead of the series.  Michael Thompson followed with an RBI single to left to plate Colton from second.  Jeff Christy capped off the inning with a long double to right field that scored Horn and Thompson.

The Saints chipped away in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 5-3.  With the bases loaded and one out, Jason Cooper hit a popfly single that went off the glove of left fielder Jonathan Dziomba.  An RBI groundout from Ole Sheldon scored the Saints' third run of the game.

St. Paul tied the game in the seventh on a two-out, two-run home run to center fielder by Ole Sheldon off Dustin Pease.

The Saints regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth.  With Gerard Haran on second and one out, Steve Mays singled to right field.  Haran scrambled for home when Ryan Patterson's throw bounced into foul territory.  Will Morgan flipped the ball to Jeff Christy covering the plate, but was knocked down by Haran causing the ball to come free and give the Saints a 6-5 lead.  Josh Alley added a two-out RBI double made it 7-5.

Saints' closer Hunter Davis retired the Wingnuts in order in the ninth.  Jacob Schmidt threw 3.1 perfect innings in relief of Todd Mathison for the win.  Morgan took the loss for the Wingnuts.  Kennard Bibbs left the game in the fifth inning, while Christy was removed after the collision in the eighth.  Christy collected three hits in the game.  Cowart went five innings, allowing two earned runs in a no-decision.

The Wingnuts wrap up their series with the Saints Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.  Wichita sends Gabe Medina to the mound against the Saints' Jason Godin.  All the action can be heard locally on Oldies 93.5 KWME and worldwide at www.kleyam.com  The Wingnuts play their home opener on Tuesday, May 18th versus the Sioux Falls Pheasants.  For tickets, call the Wingnuts' office at (316) 264-NUTS.

-Wingnuts-