Offense Comes Alive in Matinee Win

LINCOLN, NE- The Wichita Wingnuts beat the Lincoln Saltdogs 7-4 at Haymarket Park on Wednesday morning.

For a second straight game, Chris Colton gave the Wingnuts a lead in the second inning.  The Wingnuts' center fielder crushed a solo home run to lead off the inning that traveled to the deepest part of Haymarket Park.  Steve Pearson followed with a line drive single to left-center that was kicked to the warning track by Gavin Dickey and allowed Pearson to advance to second.  Pearson stole third base and then scored on Michael Thompson's sacrifice fly to deep left field to give the Wingnuts a 2-0 advantage.

Colton led off the fourth with a walk, advanced to second on a groundout and stole third base with two outs.  Michael Sharp singled to left field to drive in Colton.  After a single to center by Patrick Brooks, Josh Horn singled through the hole on the right side to bring in Sharp who slid head first around the tag of catcher Tycen PoVey.

Michael Thompson made it 5-0 in the top of the sixth, homering over the left field fence on a line drive.

Lincoln scored three times in the seventh to get on the board.  Argelis Nunez opened the inning with a single and came around on errors by Michael Thompson and Eric Williams during the same at bat to Roberto Alvarez.  Alvarez scored from third on an RBI single by Gavin Dickey.  Tycen PoVey doubled to right-center, scoring Dickey, and cutting the lead to 5-3.

Dustin Pease was called from the bullpen and put out the fire, not allowing any further runs to score, and striking out cleanup hitter Juan Richardson to end the inning with the tying runs on base.

The Wingnuts tacked on two more in the top of the eighth.  Michael Thompson singled home Chris Colton from third.  Later in the inning, Patrick Brooks doubled down the right field line with two outs to bring in Thompson and make it 7-3.

The Saltdogs rallied again in the ninth, plating a run on an RBI single from Chris Brown.  Lincoln loaded the bases and brought the winning run to the plate, but Justin Dowdy struck out Rafael Alvarez to end the game and earn his third save of the season.

Luke Massetti pitched six shutout innings for the win, striking out five and walking one.  Massetti allowed just four hits and retired the final eight batters to face him.  Lincoln starter Billy Weitzman took the loss, allowing four earned runs in four innings.

The series concludes at 7:05 p.m. on Thursday with Brandon Mathes taking the mound against right-hander Jim Paduch.  All the action can be heard locally on 93.5 FM KWME and worldwide at www.kleyam.com  The Wingnuts open a three-game series at home on Friday versus Sioux City at 7:05 p.m.  For tickets, call the Wingnuts' office at (316) 264-NUTS.

-Wingnuts-