LANSING, Mich. - In front of 8,577 on Tribute to Burt Reynolds Night at Cooley Law School Stadium, Evan Edwards's two-run tenth-inning homer lifted the Clinton LumberKings (20-8, 53-44) to a 5-4 win over the Lansing Lugnuts (14-14, 46-51) on Saturday night at Cooley Law School Stadium.Cre Finfrock (Loss, 0-1)
LANSING, Mich. - In front of 8,577 on Tribute to Burt Reynolds Night at Cooley Law School Stadium, Evan Edwards's two-run tenth-inning homer lifted the Clinton LumberKings (20-8, 53-44) to a 5-4 win over the Lansing Lugnuts (14-14, 46-51) on Saturday night at Cooley Law School Stadium.
Cre Finfrock (Loss, 0-1) had recorded the first two outs in the top of the tenth inning before Edwards turned around a 2-2 fastball and drove it over the center-field wall, plating bonus runner Christopher Torres for a 5-3 LumberKings lead.
Gabriel Moreno opened the bottom of the tenth against relief pitcher Zach Wolf (Win, 4-1) with a laser of an RBI single to left, knocking in bonus runner Tanner Kirwer to trim the deficit to one run. After a Griffin Conine strikeout, Johnny Aiello was hit by a pitch, extending his on-base streak to 20 games and pushing pinch-runner Hunter Steinmetz into scoring position. Wolf stiffened from there, retiring Ryan Gold on a flyout to center field and striking out Jake Brodt to end the game.
Gold had belted a two-run homer in a three-run fourth inning to help the Lugnuts build a 3-0 lead behind 18-year-old starter Eric Pardinho .
Zach Scott's RBI single in the fifth brought the LumberKings within 3-1, the only run that the Kings plated in five innings against Pardinho, who struck out four and allowed three hits and two walks.
A two-run Clinton rally against reliever Sean Rackoski in the eighth inning completed the comeback, with Peyton Burdick's RBI single and Bubba Hollins's RBI fielder's choice tying the score at 3-3.
Both teams threatened to break the tie in the ninth. Clinton's Davis Bradshaw led off the top half with a double and moved to third base on an error, but Finfrock mowed through the next three batters to strand him. In the bottom half, DJ Neal singled with two outs and stole second, and Otto Lopez reached on a fielding error by shortstop Christopher Torres to move Neal to third. But Tanner Kirwer struck out swinging, forcing extra innings.
Kirwer, Moreno and Neal each finished the game with two hits in the loss.
The middle game of the three-game series is a Delta Dental Kids Day - Princess in the Park! Nuts right-hander Troy Miller (5.05 ERA) starts against LumberKings right-hander Remey Reed (1.50) at 1:05 p.m. with gates opening at 12:00 noon.
To live the Lug Life and purchase tickets, visit lansinglugnuts.com, call (517) 485-4500 or come to the Cooley Law School Stadium box office at 505 E. Michigan Ave. in downtown Lansing.
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