Trosclair Walks Off Cougars in Tenth

Peoria, IL -Stefan Trosclair laced a bases-loaded single to left field in the 10^th inning to help the Peoria Chiefs walk-off the Kane County Cougars 7-6 Sunday afternoon. The win improves the Chiefs to 33-30 in the second half and with seven games remaining maintained their three-game Wild Card lead over Clinton who beat Wisconsin on Sunday.
    The Chiefs got on the board in the first inning against Cougars starter Connor Grey. With two outs Trosclair took Grey deep, sending a solo homer to left field to give the Chiefs a 1-0 edge. The homer was Trosclair's 14^th of the season and traveled 374-feet into the Jimmy John's Picnic Patio.

    Peoria scored again in the second inning against Grey and the Cougars. Evan Mendoza led off with a triple to right-center and with one out Dylan Carlson lofted a sacrifice fly to right. Mendoza slid into home with the throw coming in wide of the plate to give the Chiefs a 2-0 advantage.
    The Cougars erased Peoria's lead in the third against Chiefs starter Austin Warner. Yan Sanchez hit a lead-off homer to center that landed half-way up the batter's eye to make it 2-1. In the next at-bat Anfernee Grier launched a home run to left that tied the game at 2-2, but Warner retired the next three hitters in order to end the inning.
    The Chiefs rallied to take the lead in the fourth against Grey. With two outs Mendoza singled to right and Ryan McCarvel singled to center. Carlson singled to right and drove in Mendoza to make it 3-2.
    Kane County took their first lead of the game in the seventh against Chiefs reliever Ronnie Williams. Stephen Smith led off with a double to deep left-center and Adam Walton and Alexis Olmeda walked to load the bases. With one out Grier drove in Smith with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at three. With two outs Marcus Wilson doubled to deep center field to drive in Walton and Olmeda and give the Cougars a 5-3 advantage. Eudy Ramos singled to right to plate Wilson and extend Kane County's lead to 6-3 and end Williams' outing. Yeison Medina came in out of the bullpen and Ramos tried to steal third, but Chiefs catcher Dennis Ortega threw him out to end the inning.
    Peoria cut into Kane County's lead in the seventh against reliever Tyler Mark. Ortega and Nick Plummer both singled, and with one out Kramer Robertson singled to left to load the bases. Trosclair brought home Ortega with a sacrifice fly to deep left-center, but Danny Hudzina struck out swinging to end the inning and strand the tying runs.
    The Chiefs scored again in the eighth as it began to rain at Dozer Park with Cougars reliever Junior Garcia on the mound. With two outs Carlson was hit by a pitch and Ortega singled to right to keep the inning alive. With a 2-2 count, Plummer struck out swinging on a wild pitch that allowed him to reach and score Carlson to bring the Chiefs within a run, trailing 6-5.
    Peoria tied the game in the ninth against Kane County relievers Junior Garcia and Jake Winston. Robertson led off with a ground ball to third that was bobbled by Ramos for an error. Trosclair laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Robertson to second, but reached when Garcia made an errant throw to first. Hudzina singled to left field to drive in Robertson and tie the game at 6-6 with Trosclair moving to second on the play. Winston entered the game out of the bullpen and Mendoza hit into a double play that advanced Trosclair to third, but McCarvel struck out to send the game to extra innings.
    Peoria walked off in the 10^th against Winston. With one out Ortega and Plummer walked to put the tying run in scoring position, and Fennell grounded into a fielder's choice that retired Plummer at second but moved Ortega to third. Winston hit Robertson to load the bases and Trosclair singled to left on a ball that was deflected by Ramos at third base to score Ortega and give the Chiefs a 7-6 walk-off win.
    Warner earned a quality start in a no decision, throwing six innings while allowing two runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Williams lasted 2/3 of an inning in a blown save out of the bullpen, allowing four runs on three hits with two walks and a strikeout. Medina tossed 2 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings while allowing a walk with three strikeouts. Austin Sexton (4-2) earned a win after throwing one scoreless inning while allowing a hit with two strikeouts.
Notes… Trosclair has homered in back-to-back games for the first time this season and second time in his career… Four of his homers have been go-ahead blasts this season which is second on the team… Trosclair had his second straight multi-hit game, his 30^th of the season and his third three-hit game… Mendoza's triple was the fourth of his pro career and first with the Chiefs… He had his second multi-hit game with the Chiefs since joining Peoria on August 10… Hudzina has a 10-game hit streak which ties him for the Chiefs third longest of the season with Trosclair who did it between August 1-12… Fennell has an eight-game hit streak… Warner earned his fifth quality start of the season and the Chiefs have 53 as a team… Peoria has 13 last at-bat wins this season… The Chiefs earned their first win when trailing entering the ninth and are 1-57 in the situation this season… Peoria has eight walk-off wins this season which is the second most in a season behind 2008 and 2010… The Chiefs are 5-4 at home when wearing the baby blue uniforms and 14-9 overall… The final home stand of the season continues Monday at 12:00 pm as the Chiefs host Kane County for the season series finale…The Chiefs will start RH Anthony Shew (3-0, 3.20) while the Cougars will start RH Carlos Bustamante (0-0, 0.00)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 11:45 a.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 Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio App.