Saturday, June 02, 2012

Wingnuts win 10^th straight in Grand Prairie’s first extra-inning game of season

WICHITA, Kan. – C.J. Ziegler hit a two-out, 1-1 pitch from Griffin Bailey just over the leftfield wall to give the Wichita Wingnuts a 5-4, 10-inning win against the Grand Prairie AirHogs at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium on Saturday, the Wingnuts’ 10^th straight win.

The AirHogs (8-7) never trailed in the game until the last pitch, scoring in the first after Keanon Simon led off with a double off Derek Blacksher. A pair of groundouts by David Thomas and Trent Lockwood brought him in, but the Wingnuts (11-3) answered with an RBI single from Juan Richardson in the bottom half off Grand Prairie starter Josh Strawn.

Chavez put the AirHogs back in front with his first Grand Prairie longball, a two-run homer to right-center in the second inning. Wichita then scored single runs in the third and fifth to tie the game at 3-3, before Chavez helped give Grand Prairie another lead in the seventh. The AirHogs catcher doubled to start the inning, and a sacrifice bunt by Bridger Hunt and a single by Yasutsugu Nishimoto brought him in.

But the Wingnuts tied it with an unearned run against Derrick Miramontes in the bottom half, and both teams’ bullpens shut it down from there, with Jakob Cunningham throwing a scoreless eighth with three strikeouts and Bailey (0-3) working a perfect ninth to force the first AirHogs’ extra-inning game of the year. Nick Walters, Edgar Martinez and Matt Nevarez (2-0) allowed a single AirHogs baserunner in three shutout innings out of the Wichita pen, setting the stage for Ziegler’s heroics.

Notes: Wichita’s winning streak is a new franchise record…AirHogs second baseman Bridger Hunt was ejected by home plate umpire Sean Hicks after arguing a called third strike to end the ninth…The top four hitters in the Wichita lineup (Ryan Khoury, Jake Kahaulelio, John Rodriguez and Juan Richardson) had eight of the Wingnuts’ 11 hits with four runs scored and four RBIs.

The 2011 American Association Champion Grand Prairie AirHogs conclude three-game series against the Wichita Wingnuts on Sunday, June 3, at 2:05 p.m. The next home game at QuikTrip Park is Monday, June 4, at 7:05 against the Laredo Lemurs. That night is Margarita Monday, with $1 off all margaritas. All games are aired live and for free on Ustream by clicking on the link on the AirHogs’ home page or visiting http://www.ustream.tv/channel/airhogs-baseball with selected contests aired on Time Warner Cable’s Texas Channel. For information on tickets, promotions, advertising, and other opportunities with the AirHogs, check out the Web site at www.airhogsbaseball.com, or call the QuikTrip Park office at (972) 504-9383.