Resilient Wingnuts Win Seventh in a Row

WICHITA, KS- The Wichita Wingnuts beat the Lincoln Saltdogs 8-7 at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium on Tuesday night.

Wichita overcame an early 4-0 deficit, erased three separate Saltdogs' leads, and scored two in the bottom of the eighth to win their seventh consecutive game.

Trailing 7-6 in the bottom of the eighth, Michael Bell singled to center off of left-hander Adam Daniels with one out.  After a walk to Rene Ruiz, Josh Horn hit a groundball up the first base line that advanced Bell to third and Ruiz to second.  Lincoln intentionally walked Ryan Patterson to load the bases.  Jorge Cortes then drew a four-pitch walk from Daniels to tie the game.  With Jackson Melian at the plate, Daniels threw a wild pitch on a 2-2 count that scored Ruiz from third to give the Wingnuts an 8-7 lead.

With Justin Dowdy unavailable, Cephas Howard took over in the ninth and worked around an error to lock down his first save of the year.  Howard retired Juan Richardson on a groundout to shortstop to strand the tying run on second.

Lincoln captured the lead in the top of the eighth when Argelis Nunez ripped a two-run home run over the left-center field wall against right-hander J.R. Boling.  Boling was making his professional debut.  It was Nunez' second home run of the game.

The Wingnuts trailed 4-0 after an inning and a half.  Lincoln plated two in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly from Richardson and the first home run of the night from Nunez.  Phil Hawke homered down the right field line against Nick Singleton in the top of the second to make it 3-0.  After a Jeremy Gillan triple to center, Albenis Machado hit a sacrifice fly that put Lincoln up by four runs.

The Wingnuts wiped out the lead in one frame, scoring four times in their half of the second.  Jeff Christy led off with a bloop single to center field.  After Saltdogs' starter John James retired the next two hitters, Ruiz punched a single through the right side that sent Christy to third.  Rafael Alvarez' throw from right field bounced into foul ground allowing Christy to score and Ruiz to advance to second.  Horn drew a walk to bring the tying run to the plate, setting up a three-run home run from Ryan Patterson to tie the game.

The Saltdogs loaded the bases with no one out in the third on a walk, an error, and an infield single, but Singleton limited the damage when he got Juan Camacho to hit into a run-scoring double play to give Lincoln a 5-4 lead.

Steve Pearson led off the bottom of the fourth with a double off the wall down the right field line.  Michael Bell immediately drove him in with a hard single through the left side of the infield to tie the game at 5-5.

Singleton perservered through five innings of work, allowing five runs, two earned, on six hits.  Singleton walked three and struck out four in a no-decision.

Brandon Mathes worked a perfect sixth inning and allowed the Wingnuts to take their first lead of the night.  Pearson singled off of reliever Nolan Chestnut to left with one out, and advanced to second on a wild pitch that struck out Bell.  Pearson stole third and came home when Gillan's pickoff attempt went wild down the left field line.

Mathes worked two scoreless innings, not allowing a hit.  Dustin Pease earned the win, recording the final two outs in the eighth.  James took a no-decision, allowing five earned runs in five innings.  The Wingnuts picked off two runners, one by Singleton and one by Christy.  Christy also threw out two runners trying to steal. 

The Wingnuts and Saltdogs continue their series on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.  Right-handers Adam Cowart and Tim Brown take the hill.  For tickets, call the Wingnuts' office at (316) 264-NUTS.

-Wingnuts-