In game two of the four-game road series, the Gary SouthShore RailCats (9-8) held off the Chicago Dogs (10-7) to secure the ‘Cats first winning record of the season and extend their winning streak to a current league-high three games.
The win goes to Gregori Vasquez who threw five innings of two-run baseball with four hits and six strikeouts. In relief, Greg “Diesel” Duncan threw gas in his first professional appearances, tossing two scoreless innings with just one.
The ‘Cats and Dogs were knotted up after one, and then Chicago took a 2-1 lead with an Anfernee Grier double to plate Ryan Lidge.
Then Gary SouthShore took over. A no-doubt blast from Tom Walraven, his second in two games, tied things up at two a piece in the third. Walraven’s second start of the season resulted in a 3-for-5 line at the dish, falling just a triple short of the cycle.
That triple was Phil Caulfield’s. After two walks in the fourth frame, Dogs’ Manager Butch Hobson was thrown out of the game arguing balls and strikes. On the next at-bat, Caulfield roped a 2-RBI triple, then crossed the plate on a passed ball, to make it 5-2.
Adam Heidenfelder closed things out with a six-out outing, but he made things interesting in the ninth. After one run scored in the bottom of the final frame, Heidenfelder earned the punch out over Brennan Metzger to shut the door with the bases juiced.
Walraven and Daniel Lingua, who had two doubles, each earned multi-hit efforts for Gary SouthShore while Lidge, Grier, and Danny Mars had multi-hit games for Chicago.
Game three between the Gary SouthShore RailCats and the Chicago Dogs is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. tomorrow, June 5 at Impact Field in Chicago. Trevor Lubking is scheduled to start for the ‘Cats and Jonathon Crawford is on the mound for the Dogs.