Derby Delivers Doubleheader Sweep

Bubba Derby threw six shutout innings and Ryan Cordell launched two home runs as the Colorado Springs Sky Sox completed the doubleheader sweep with an 11-0 victory over the Iowa Cubs in front of 4,819 Saturday night at Security Service Field.

Making his Triple-A debut after starting the season in Double-A Biloxi, Derby (1-0, 0.00) shut down the Iowa bats, allowing three hits in six innings while striking out three batters. The Sky Sox pitching staff combined to allow one earned run on eight hits in 14 innings en route to clinching the four-game series with the Cubs.
Playing as the visiting team in a make-up of the April 29 rainout in Des Moines, the Sky Sox (36-24) jumped on top two batters into the game. Nate Orf grounded a RBI triple down the third base line to easily score Kyle Wren. With two away, Kirk Nieuwenhuis recorded his third RBI of the doubleheader, lining an opposite-field single to left field to allow Orf to score the game's second run.
Cordell added some more insurance in the fifth inning, hitting an opposite-field two-run home run down the right field line. In the two games Saturday, Cordell finished with a 6-for-9 night at the plate with two home runs and six RBIs.
The Sox opened the floodgates in the sixth inning, sending 12 batters to the plate in a seven-run frame. After the first two men walked, Yadiel Rivera hustled out a double to score Gabriel Noriega. Wren and Orf each recorded RBI singles before Ivan De Jesus clubbed a two-run double to the left-centerfield gap, knocking reliever Conor Mullee from the game.
Stephen Bruno came on to pitch and Cordell greeted him three pitches in with his second long ball of the night. The two-run moonshot over the wall in left field was Cordell's ninth of the season, the most among current Sky Sox batters.
The four-game series concludes Sunday at 1:30 p.m. MT, when LHP Brent Suter (3-1, 4.32) looks to lead the Sky Sox to a series sweep of RHP Aaron Brooks and the iowa Cubs. Sunday features 50-cent hot dogs, courtesy of Safeway, and the matinee is also Emergency Preparedness Day, where the first 1,000 fans receive a Sky Sox drawstring bag.