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The score was once again 5-0. But this game ended as a victory for the Hogs rather than a loss. After yesterday's 5-0 defeat at the hands of the Milwaukee Menace, the Hogs returned home after a brief roadtrip to face the struggling North Spokane Titans. They gave Bobby Thomas 5 runs and he did the rest, with a bit of help from Curt Leskanic and Ricky Bottalico, en route to a Punxatawney victory.
This was a fairly close game most of the way through. Punxatawney scored 2 runs in the bottom of the third, tacked on another in the 6th, and put the game away with 2 more in their final at bat in the 8th inning.
This game was reminiscent of the early season where slugger Ryan Klesko led the offense. He drove in 4 of the 5 runs with a 3-4, 1 run game, including his 29th home run. Jose Valentin also collected 3 hits including 2 doubles. He also scored twice. Greg Myers drove in the other run with a double. Tony Batista and Scott Rolen scored the other two runs. Rolen's lone hit was his 22nd double, moving him into a tie for 9th in the league. Only North Spokane DH Jermaine Dye had more than one hit for the Titans, as Dye collected 2 singles.
Pitching was another story entirely. Bobby Thomas, the Hogs #2 man, put together his best start of the season. He went 7 innings and gave up only 4 hits and 2 walks. He also struck out 7. Curt Leskanic threw a strong 8th inning, throwing 11 pitches en route to 2 strikeout, no baserunner inning. Ricky Bottalico, who had not pitched recently due to a number of blowouts, came in to get some work and tossed a scoreless 9th, allowing 2 baserunners and striking out 1. Thomas' win made him 6-2 and Leskanic got his 5th hold.
Tom Gordon took the loss for the titans, dropping him to 3-10 on the year. He threw a quality 5 innings, however, allowing 5 hits and no walks while striking out 6. He gave up 2 runs a well. Grady Norris allowed 3 more runs in the last 3 innings on 4 hits and a walk.
With this win, the Groundhogs improved to 49-23 and may soon be the first team to reach the 50 win plateau. They are also 25-9 in their home park and 31-11 in the division. The next game will feature Rocky Coppinger (7-6, 5.06) against John Paschall (2-3, 3.58).
"Rocky needs to show me something tommorow. Aguilera has been asking me for a start or two and with his recent strong pitching, I've been considering throwing him into the mix for a week or two," said team owner and manager Dan Shapiro.
Brief stat notes--
With this win, Bobby Thomas has improved to 6-2, 3.13 and has 5 quality starts in 7 outings. Ryan Klesko retook the batting average lead from Rondell White, going ahead .370 to .369.
Written by Dan Shapiro