Sky Sox Clinch Series In 16-9 Slugfest

Nick Noonan drove in four runs and Mauricio Dubón scored five runs to lead the Sky Sox to a 16-9 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers in front of 2,940 at Security Service Field Thursday night.

For the second straight game, Colorado Springs (63-39) jumped out to an early lead in their first at-bats. After Kyle Wren walked and Dubon doubled, Keon Broxton grounded a RBI single into left field, allowing Wren to score the game's first run. Broxton would steal second base one batter later, and the ensuing throw down allowed Dubon to steal home and double the Sox advantage.
With one out, Noonan extended his season-high hitting streak to 10 games with RBI single to right field, plating Broxton to increase the first-inning lead to 3-0. During his streak, Noonan is batting .372 (16-for-43) with five doubles, 10 doubles and 13 runs batted in.
The Sox got back on the scoreboard in the third inning. Dubon launched his fourth home run of the season to the scoreboard in left-center field, increasing the hosts' lead to 4-0. Dubon has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games and has recorded multi-hit games in nine of those 10 contests.
Tacoma (52-53) scored four runs in the fourth inning to tie the game, but the Sox responded half an inning later with a seven-run fourth to take an 11-4 lead. Andrew Susac lined the second of two straight doubles to the wall in left-center to score Kirk Nieuwenhuis to help regain the lead. Two batters later, Wren lined a triple into the left field corner to score Susac and increase the lead to two.
Nate Orf joined the offensive slugfest, sparking a two-out rally with a two-run double down the left-field line to score Wren and Dubon for the team's fourth extra-base hit of the inning. One batter later, Noonan lined a single for his second RBI of the night to score Orf, and the third baseman would score with Chris Colabello on a two-run bloop single from Susac for the catcher's third RBI of the inning.
The Sox would add to their lead with four more runs in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Noonan dropped a two-run double between Ian Miller and Leonys Martin to score Wren and Dubon. After a Colabello sacrifice fly to right field scored Orf, Nieuwenhuis lined a single to score Noonan for his first RBI of the night and increase the lead to 15-4.
Orf would drive in the team's final run in the sixth inning, lining a RBI single to allow Dubon to score his fifth run of the game. In three games against Tacoma this season, the Sky Sox have outscored the Rainiers 41-17.
The eight-game homestand and four-game series comes to a conclusion Friday night at 7 p.m. MT, when RHP Bubba Derby (2-0, 3.09) makes his second start of the homestand against Tacoma RHP Sam Gaviglio (3-4, 3.89). It's Boy Scout Night at the ballpark, with a Bruno Mars-themed postgame fireworks show, presented by Honest Accurate Auto Service.