Hawks 'balk' off with another win

SOUTH BEND -- Pitching, power and defense have all helped South Bend to a 13-3 start in the Midwest League this season.

Saturday night at Coveleski Stadium the Silver Hawks found a different way to win:

A walk-off balk.

South Bend manager Tony Perezchica called it "one of the weirdest plays I've ever seen.''

Lansing manager Julio Garcia noted that "it was a helluva game by both teams, it's too bad it had to end like that.''

After the Silver Hawks were one pitch from a 1-0 defeat, a balk with two out in the bottom of the 10th inning enabled Miguel Montero to score the winning run in a 2-1 victory over Lansing.

"Every time we play these guys, it's a one-run game,'' said Perezchica. "You have to give Lansing credit.''

Montero led off the bottom of the 10th with a single against Weston O'Brien. An intended pitchout was wild and sent Montero to second. He stole third. Lino Garcia was hit by pitch, and O'Brien appeared ready to attempt a pickoff. He cocked his arm, but first baseman Adrian Dopirak was not on the base.

The balk was obvious. There were no complaints from anyone and South Bend reliever Ruben Vicente, who faced just one batter in the top of the 10th, had his second victory.

South Bend would never have been in a position to win had it not been for some ninth-inning heroics from first baseman Edgar Varela.

Augie Murillo had walked with one out in the bottom of the ninth with Lansing holding a 1-0 lead. Pinch-runner Alberto Gonzalez stayed put as Alex Frazier flied to right. Varela worked the count to 1-2, then blasted a pitch off the right field wall. Gonzalez, running on contact, barely beat the relay throw home on a nice hook slide.

"On a normal night that ball is out of the park,'' said Perezchica.

Varela agreed.

"No wind and that ball is gone,'' said the South Bend first baseman. "Their guy had blown two pitches past me, then he left me a slider -- the kind of a pitch us lefties like to hit.''

The late-inning heroics detracted from two superb pitching performances by the starters _ Lansing's Sean Marshall and South Bend's William Juarez. Marshall allowed three hits and struck out four in eight innings. When he walked Montero in the fifth it was his first walk against 27 strikeouts in 24 innings this season.

Marshall and twin brother Brian are both 6-5 left-handers. Together they pitched Virginia Commonwealth to the NCAA Division I ERA championship last season. Sean was drafted in the sixth round by the Cubs and Brian in the fifth round by Boston.

Juarez struck out seven and walked one in seven and two-thirds innings. The only run he allowed was a third inning homer by Dopirak -- a run that stood for a 1-0 lead until the bottom of the ninth.

"Juarez gives us a lot of innings, but we don't seem to score much for him,'' said Perezchica.

Roster changes