Peoria, IL - The Peoria Chiefs defeated the Beloit Snappers 7-6 on Sunday afternoon at Dozer Park to win the four-game series. Peoria is 16-25 overall and will head to Quad Cities for a four-game series against the River Bandits with a 6:35 p.m. Monday first pitch. Luis Barrera led off
Peoria, IL - The Peoria Chiefs defeated the Beloit Snappers 7-6 on Sunday afternoon at Dozer Park to win the four-game series. Peoria is 16-25 overall and will head to Quad Cities for a four-game series against the River Bandits with a 6:35 p.m. Monday first pitch.
Luis Barrera led off the second inning with a triple against Chiefs starter Jordan Hicks and scored one batter later when JaVon Shelby singled to left field to give Beloit a 1-0 lead. Shelby moved to third on an errant pickoff attempt, but Hicks was able to work out of trouble by getting both Eric Mariñez and Mike Martin to pop out to end the inning
Jose Martinez walked to start the third for Peoria and Nick Plummer singled off Snappers starter Brendan Butler with no outs. Tommy Edman reached on an error by Snappers first baseman Kyle Nowlin to load the bases, and Stefan Trosclair singled through the left-side of the infield to tie the game at 1-1. Andrew Knizner was hit by a pitch to force home Plummer and Brian O'Keefe bounced into a fielder's choice that scored Edman, giving the Chiefs a 3-1 lead.
Beloit took the lead back in the fourth inning with Hicks still on the mound. Javon Shelby worked a one out walk and went to third when Jason Goldstein singled. Shelby scored when Marinez doubled to make it a 3-2 game. Martin gave Beloit their second advantage of the game with a single that brought in Goldstein and Marinez to make it a 4-3 Snappers lead.
Vince Jackson hit a solo home run off Butler to tie the game in the fourth inning at 4-4. The homer was Jackson's third of the season and third in six games.
Beloit went to the bullpen in the sixth, bringing Jesus Zambrano in for Butler. With two outs, Martinez singled for the Chiefs and scored when Plummer struck a double to give Peoria a 5-4 lead. Edman drove home Plummer with a single to extend the Chiefs lead to 6-4, and stole second base on Zambrano. Trosclair walked and Knizner singled to drive home Edman and give the Chiefs their biggest lead of the day, 7-4.
The Snappers cut into the Chiefs lead in the eighth inning against Ronnie Williams and Eric Carter. With two outs Williams walked Marinez and Martin singled to left with Marinez scoring on an error by Jackson to make it a 7-5 game. Carter entered the game to face Trace Loehr who singled to drive in Martin and bring the Snappers within one run, 7-6. Luke Persico singled before Nate Mondou popped out to end the inning. Carter retired the Snappers in order in the ninth and ended the game with two straight strikeouts.
Hicks (5-1) threw six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits while walking two and striking out four to earn the win. Williams picked up a hold and allowed two runs and a hit over 1 1/3 innings of work with two walks and three strikeouts. Carter earned his third save of the season, throwing 1 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing two hits with two strikeouts.
Notes…The win gives the Chiefs their first back-to-back wins since a three-game win streak on April 11-13…The series win is the first for the Chiefs since April 11-12 as they had been 0-9-1 in the last 10 series… The Chiefs are 2-0 when hitting coach Donnie Ecker coaches third base in a game in which there is no ejection of manager Chris Swauger… The Chiefs are 2-3 overall and 1-2 at Dozer Park on Sunday…Hicks hasn't allowed a run in the fifth or sixth inning this season… Hicks threw six innings for the first time since his May 2 start in Lansing…He leads the MWL in hit batters with eight…Including the hit by pitch in the second inning, Andrew Young leads the Chiefs with six HBP, which also leaves him tied for third in the Midwest League… Shane Billings entered the game in the ninth inning as a defensive replacement in left field in his first game back with Peoria since being promoted to Palm Beach on May 8... Plummer has an eight-game on base streak and back-to-back multi-hit games… Plummer tied a career high with three hits…Knizner extended his on-base streak to 19 games after being hit by a pitch in the third inning… The Chiefs hit the road on Monday for game one of a four-game series against the Quad Cities River Bandits with a 6:35 p.m. first pitch…The Chiefs will start RH Ian Oxnevad (0-3, 4.78) against Quad Cities LH Cionel Pérez (2-2, 9.64) The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:20 p.m. on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android…The broadcast is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Network in the Tune-In Radio App.
