O'Reilly, Chiefs Shutout Cougars

Geneva, IL - For the third time this season, and the second against Kane County, Mike O'Reilly threw at least eight shutout innings in the Peoria Chiefs 1-0 win over the first half Western Division champions Friday night. O'Reilly went the distance in a 6-0 win over the Cougars 23 days ago and also threw 8 1/3 shutout innings in a 1-0 win over Beloit May 20. The Friday win moves the Chiefs to 6-3 in the second half and 36-42 overall.

    The Chiefs had the first good scoring chance against Kane County starter Ryan Atkinson in the second inning. Juan Yepez reached on an error with one out and Danny Hudzina walked but a double play ended the threat. The Chiefs hit into another double play in the third before threatening in the fourth. Stefan Trosclair led off with a single and stole second as Brian O'Keefe struck out. Trosclair stole third but was left there as the next two batters popped out.
    The only real chance the Cougars had against O'Reilly came in the fifth after he retired the first 12 batters of the game. Mark Karaviotis led off the fifth with a double to left and was safe at third on an error by Hudzina at third that put runners on the corners. Luis Silverio hit a comebacker to the mound and O'Reilly started a run down that resulted in Karaviotis being tagged out. With runners on second and third, the Chiefs hurler struck out Manny Jefferson and Frank Christy to end the inning.
     The game was still scoreless after six with both starting pitchers in the game. O'Keefe led off the seventh with a double to right. With one out he stole third as the pitch to Yepez bounced to the backstop, O'Keefe never slowed down and scored just ahead of the tag for the first run of the game.
     O'Reilly hit Karaviotis to start the seventh but retired the last six batters he faced to hand a 1-0 lead to Eric Carter. Carter walked Raymel Flores to start the ninth but got Anfernee Grier to pop out and Karaviotis to fly out. A fielders choice to shortstop off the bat of Ramon Hernandez ended the game as Carter earned the save.
     O'Reilly (6-2) earned his second straight win with eight shutout innings in which he allowed two hits, hit a batter and struck out nine. Carter earned his seventh save with a hitless and shutout inning in which he issued one walk.
Notes… The Chiefs have four shutouts this season and O'Reilly has started three of them, May 20, June 7 and Thursday…He is now fourth in the MWL with a 1.95 ERA, first with a 0.74 WHIP and first with a .174 average against…In his two wins against the Cougars he has allowed four total hits and struck out 12 over 17 shutout innings….O'Reilly has six quality starts and has gone at least eight innings three times…Since the All-Star break he is 2-0 with one run allowed over 14 innings…He went 3-1 with a 1.75 ERA and a 0.62 WHIP in four June starts…Carter is second in the MWL with 27 appearances…He had a 1.54 ERA in 10 June outings with three saves and a win…The win was just the second of the season for the Chiefs on the road in nine chances while wearing their traditional navy blue road uniforms…Peoria is 8-5 in the first game of a road series…The Chiefs went 15-11 in June with a 7-3 road mark…The team hit .258 in June, their best month of the season with a 3.37 ERA, also the best of the season…Trosclair had his second two-steal game of the week…Friday was the first time in 57 chances all season that neither first round pick Nick Plummer or Dylan Carlson were in the lineup while both healthy…The Chiefs are 13-12 in one-run games…Peoria leads the season series 4-3…The series continues Saturday at 6:30 p.m. as the Chiefs start LH Ian Oxnevad (2-7, 3.93) against Cougars LH Mack Lemieux (2-2, 5.13)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:15 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.