| April 19, 2004 - LANSING – With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom
of the 9th, Brian Dopirak thought he had his first walk-off homerun of the
season when he hit a shot to deep left field. He circled the bases only to
have the umpires rule that the ball bounced off the top of the wall and
not over, taking away the homerun and the win for a ground-ruled double.
The Lugnuts could not come through on the opportunity and stranded the
runner to send the game into extra innings, the 3rd such game out of
Lansing’s last five.
South Bend made short work in the 10th, as Jeff Cook led off with a
double to right. He moved over to third on a sacrifice bunt by Lino Garcia
and easily scored on a Miguel Montero’s sacrifice fly to deep
centerfield. The run held as the game winner for the Silver Hawks(9-2),
taking it 2-1. The loss makes three straight for the Lugnuts(6-5), all by
one run.
Lansing got on the board first in the 4th inning when Ryan Fitzgerald
walked and Dopirak launched one to centerfield that was also debated as a
homerun. This one was a much easier ruling as the ball got lodged in the
padding of the wall, putting him on second base and Fitzgerald on third.
Kevin Collins got the run across on his sacrifice fly to put Lansing up
1-0.
South Bend came right back in the top of the 5th as Garcia led off with
a bunt single and moved to second on a wild pitch. A quick RBI single by
Michael Goss to score Garcia tied it up 1-1. The score held the rest of
the way as both starters pitched well. The Silver Hawk’s William Juarez
went 7 innings, giving up 5 hits and one run, while Marshall threw 8
innings, allowing one run and striking out a season-high 9 batters.
Adalberto Mendez(1-1) pitched the last 2 innings for Lansing to take
the loss. Billy Biggs(1-0), just called up to South Bend today, got his
first win in 2 innings of relief for Juarez. Aric LeClair pitched a
perfect 10th for his first save.
After winning the first game of the series with South Bend, the Lugnuts
dropped the last three. Lansing opens up its first series against Beloit
this season Tuesday night as Ronald Bay faces the Snappers’ Brian
Montalbo. Game time is 6:05 p.m.
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