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Hague powers Bisons to 5-1 Star Wars win

Sold-out crowd enjoys big night by Herd's MVP
July 18, 2015

The galaxy may have finally found something more powerful that the force….Matt Hague's swing!

The #MattVP was doing #MattVP things in front of a sold out crowd of 17,600 on Star Wars Night at Coca-Cola Field. The slugger finished a triple shy of the cycle on Saturday, driving in three and powering the Bisons to a 5-1 victory over the Columbus Clippers.

Donning the Jedi Robe jersey as part of the Bisons' most popular annual event, Hague showed that swinging a bat can be just as powerful as flashing a lightsaber. The All-Star singled and scored in the third inning, homered in the fifth inning and sealed the Star Wars Night win with a two-run double in the seventh.

Hague's three hits represent his 38th multi-hit performance of the season. He's now hitting .354 on the season with 121 hits are 19 more than the next closest hitter.

On Saturday, Hague went to work after Columbus took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. As he has done all season, the veteran used the whole field to lead off the third with a single through the right side. Two batters later, Alex Hassan gave the Bisons the lead with a home run to left-center than bounced off the top of the wall just to the right of the ballpark's 371 marking.

In the fifth, Hague left the yard himself. Despite down 1-2 in the count to Clippers starter Michael Roth, Hague muscled up for a towering home run to left field for his team-best sixth longball of the season.

Then in the seventh, Hague rewarded Buffalo manager Gary Allenson's green light by lining a 3-0 pitch past Clippers' James Ramsey in left field to plate two more runs. His third hit of the night gave him 57 RBI on the season, three behind league leader Jesus Aguilar of Columbus.

Scott Copeland earned the win for Buffalo, allowing just one run on six innings of work. He gave up just three hits past the second inning, picking up three strikeouts.

BISONS NOTES:
Alex Hassan finished the game 2-2 with a home run and two walks…Jonathan Diaz reached base three times, going 1-2 with a pair of walks…Scott Copeland's sixth win of the season ties him with Chad Jenkins for the team lead…With Saturday night's sold out crowd, the Bisons have now drawn 117,440 in the eight year of the Star Wars event.

 

-the herd-