Bats Fall 9-8 In Completion Of Suspended Affair

The Louisville Bats mounted a furious comeback but ultimately fell 9-8 to Toledo on Thursday night at Louisville Slugger Field in the completion of the suspended game on May 22.

Michael Trautwein began the scoring on Wednesday night with his fifth home run of the year vs. Mud Hens starter Brant Hurter in the bottom of the second, putting the Bats up 1-0, but Toledo came right back with a home run in the top of the third by Buddy Kennedy to tie the game.

Toledo took their momentum into the fourth, scoring three runs off Bats starter Randy Wynne to grab a 4-1 lead before the game was suspended. When the action resumed on Thursday, the Mud Hens kept their foot on the gas as they posted three more runs in the fifth, including back-to-back runs by Dillon Dingler and Akil Baddoo, to increase their lead to 7-1.

In the bottom of the inning, Levi Jordan hit a two-run shot, his fourth of the year, to inch the Bats closer at 7-3. Later, after Toledo had added a run, Jordan became the first Bat this season with four hits in a game with a double in the bottom of the eighth and came around to score on a Peyton Burdick single to cut the Louisville deficit to 8-4.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Mud Hens called on Easton Lucas to close the game out. Both Austin Wynns and Hernán Pérez singled and would advance to second and third on a wild pitch by Lucas. Erik González took advantage, driving a double down the right field line to score both runners and put the tying run at the plate in Blake Dunn. Although Dunn lined out, Rece Hinds continued the rally with his own double down the right field line to score González and put the Bats within one. Jordan then came up and also lined out, but P.J. Higgins picked him up with a single that would score Hinds and tie the game.

In the 10^th, Zach Maxwell came on to make his Triple-A debut and tallied two strikeouts while keeping Toledo off the board. The Bats had several chances to walk it off in the bottom half, but failed to bring around Burdick after he began the frame on second.

Toledo would score their ghost runner against Tony Santillan (L, 1-2) on a sacrifice fly in the top half of the 11^th, and Louisville again failed to score their own ghost runner as Trey Wingenter (W, 2-3) struck out the side to secure the Mud Hens win.

Jordan led the way at the plate by going 4-6 with a double, a home run, two runs, and two RBI. Trautwein and Higgins each added two hits, with the former hitting a home run and the latter adding an RBI to his ledger.

The Bats continue to battle the Mud Hens tomorrow night, May 24, in a doubleheader that will begin at 5:05 p.m., with Thursday night’s postponed game being made up in the first game of the doubleheader. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW. For more information on Thursday night’s postponement, click here.