Lansing Snaps Bowling Green's Six-Game Win Streak In 6-2 Final

Bowling Green, Ky. - Lansing (12-6) scored four runs over the final two innings to end Bowling Green's (10-8) six-game winning streak in a 6-2 final at Bowling Green Ballpark before an announced crowd of 2,592 fans on Sunday afternoon.

Bowling Green concludes its first homestand of the year with an impressive 7-2 mark tying the franchise standard for victories in a single homestand but drops a game in the Eastern Division standings to first-place Lansing. The two teams will matchup for three more games at the end of the upcoming road trip.

With a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning, Hot Rods reliever Edgar Gomez (1-1) retired the first two batters he faced before running into a heap of two-out Lugnut trouble. D.J. Davis singled and raced home on Danny Jansen's RBI double for a 3-2 lead, ending Bowling Green's bullpen scoreless streak at 26.2 innings.

Gunnar Heidt followed with a RBI single of his own upping the margin to 4-2, and after consecutive walks from Gomez, Heidt was balked home accounting for the 5-2 lead.

Lansing got another run in the top of the ninth inning, when Dickie Joe Thon led off the inning with a double and came around to score on Ryan McBroom's second RBI single of the day, giving the Lugnuts a 6-2 lead and effectively ending Bowling Green's six-game skein.

For the third consecutive game, Lansing took a lead in the first inning, when its first three Lugnut batters reached off Hot Rods starter Enderson Franco on back-to-back-to-back singles from Anthony Alford, Ronald Urena and Thon, who brought Alford home for the 1-0 lead.

Bowling Green replied in the bottom of the second winning, when Justin Williams sent a sharp one-out double down the right-field line off Lugnuts starter Starlyn Suriel and reached third base during the next at bat on a called balk against Suriel. Williams then came home on the next pitch to Coty Blanchard, whose sacrifice fly tied the game at 1-1. Blanchard drove in runs in six of his seven starts during the homestand while playing four different positions (third base, right field, left field, first base).

In the bottom of the fourth, Jace Conrad increased his hitting streak to nine games with a single and galloped to third on a Casey Gillaspie single. Williams then contributed a sacrifice fly to right field to give the Hot Rods a 2-1 lead.

That gave Lansing the impetus to score the final five runs of the game, starting with a single run in the top of the fifth. Urena reached on a single to left field, spelling the end of the day for Franco, while Urena work his way around the base paths with Brian Miller on the bump for Bowling Green. Urena eventually moved to third base on a throwing error by Conrad and came home on a RBI single from McBroom, tying the game at 2-2.

Over the final five innings, the Hot Rods offense was blanked by the combined effort of Jose Fernandez, Shane Dawson (2-1) and Phil Kish, who collectively allowed three hits and a pair of walks but stranded all five runners. Dawson twirled 3.0 innings of two-hit ball, walking a pair and fanning a pair to earn the win.

Franco took a no-decision, surrendering seven hits and two runs in a season-low 4.0 innings of work.

Bowling Green allowed a season-high 15 hits, including three from McBroom with his two RBI and two each by Alford, Urena and Thon. Grant Kay had two of the Hot Rods seven hits and stole his first base of the season.

After a league-wide off day on Monday, the Hot Rods begin a six-game road trip in Midland, Mich. against the Great Lakes Loons at Dow Diamond in Tuesday's 5:05 p.m. CDT start, when Brent Honeywell (1-1, 1.13) takes the bump to oppose Loons' right hander Brock Stewart (1-0, 3.60).

###

Hot Rods Baseball - It's Just #Funner