Mud Hens dominate in huge comeback win

Columbus, OH- The Toledo Mud Hens (17-14) defeated the Columbus Clippers (15-16) on Friday, May 1, in dominant fashion. All nine Mud Hens in the order reached base for an 18-5 victory.

Columbus struck first with a double; then a walk and groundout put two runners in scoring position. The Clippers put up the first run of the game off a sacrifice fly. (0-1) The runner on second did not score before getting retired.

The Hens didn’t see much offensive action through the first half of the contest as innings one, two, and three were quick. Sean Hunley followed Holman on the mound at the bottom of the third. Wasting no time, Hunley struck out two with a walk in between. Columbus’s runner on base from the walk stole second and then made it home off a single line drive to the left. (0-2) Clippers right fielder, Nolan Jones, went yard for a two-run homer to extend the lead to 4. (0-4)

Struggling to reach base, the Hens suffered 10 put-outs in a row by the opponent’s defense.

Cal Stevenson knew Toledo needed to get some balls to bats in the fifth. First at the plate, he hit a line drive to the center as the first to reach base since the inning one. Andrew Navigato came up behind Stevenson with a double, landing two runners in scoring position. Two flyouts tallied the first two outs of the inning, both of which forced the runners to stay put. Malgeri popped an infield single RBI to put Toledo on the board. (1-4) The hits continued as Gentry ripped his fourth double on the year and narrowed the gap to one with a pair of Hens landing home. (3-4) Defense continued to shut out the home team.

A leadoff walk for Julks started the sixth and Valencia followed with a base hit to the right. Navigato had himself a day, hitting the game tying RBI single (4-4), which called for a Columbus pitching change. Max Burt was not phased; he hit one to the right and Eduardo Valencia ran in the go-ahead. Some help from a throwing error ran in Navigato as well. (6-4) The point party continued after Malgeri drew a walk. Tyler Gentry smashed a second 2RBI double expanding the lead to 4. (8-4) The five-run inning ended in a strikeout. Scott Efross took over at the bottom to pitch for Toledo.

In the seventh stanza, five walks from the Clipper’s bullpen added runs nine and ten for the visitors. (10-4) None other than Ben Malgeri delivered with the bases loaded. He sent a three-run double to the wall which added to the Mud Hens advantage. (13-4)

Effross gave up his first run of the evening, which put a fifth run on for Columbus (13-5), before Jack Little took over to end the inning.

The eighth consisted of a massive three-run bomb over the fences from Navigato, (16-5) then the ninth added two more (18-5). With the bases loaded, no outs, the game went into a weather delay. The matchup was called and Hunley gathered his first win as a Mud Hen.

Notables

T. Gentry – 2/5, 1R, 4RBI, 1BB

B. Malgeri – 3/5, 2R, 4RBI, 1BB, 0K

M. Burt – 1/3, 2R, 2RBI, 1BB, 0K

A. Navigato – 3/4, 4R, HR, 4RBI, 1BB, 0K