X's back in first
By Steve Allspach, Journal sports writer | Posted: Monday, August 13, 2007
The Sioux City Explorers can't just get by with a little help from their friends.
They'll have to help themselves.
If Manager Ed Nottle's team is to win the North Division second-half pennant flag in a heated race with St. Paul, it is definitely in charge now of its own destiny.
Oh, the X's did get some help from Fort Worth, twice Sunday, in vaulting into a first-place tie with St. Paul after edging Sioux Falls Sunday 4-3 at Lewis and Clark Park.
The knot at the top of the North was created when South Division leader Fort Worth beat St. Paul 9-5 in an extra-inning game that didn't end until 12:51 a.m. Sunday and repeated the feat Sunday afternoon, sending the Saints to their fourth straight defeat, 5-1.
St. Paul and Sioux City, each 21-15, begin a crucial three-game series tonight at Lewis and Clark Park.
"I can't tell you how excited I am about this ballclub,'' said Nottle. "This is a team that battled all year and deserves to be where it is at right now.
"This is a group of guys I really respect. There's a wonderful feeling, but we haven't accomplished a damn thing except to get ourselves to this point.
"Now, if these guys play decent baseball they can enjoy something that not many people thought possible too long ago. There are 12 meaningful games left and that's exciting.
"I've been around this club for most of the time since we began in 1993 and this is the probably the biggest three-game series the Sioux City Explorers have ever had.
"I think these kids deserve the community coming out and supporting them.''
A crowd of 1,758 Sunday watched the X's move into first place this late in the season for the first time since the club won the first-half Northern League flag in 2002.
Because of rain, the start of the scheduled 5:05 contest was delayed 76 minutes.
Antsy to get going, the X's took command early, parading nine players to the plate in the first inning against Sioux Falls starter and loser Ryan Ford (5-5), who struck out a personal season-best nine batters and gave up all of Sioux City's runs in six innings.
Parlaying three walks and three singles, all after two were out, the result was a 3-0 lead with Paul Weichard lacing a two-run single and Alex Llanos a run-scoring single.
Weichard broke out of mini-slump with his single.
The native of Melbourne, Australia had struck out five straight times, including four Saturday, and fanned seven times in his previous nine at-bats in the series.
"I'm not so much worried about myself, the hitting will come around,'' said Weichard. "The important thing is this is an outstanding team, we're in first place and have a great opportunity to make the playoffs.''
Sioux Falls got a two-run homer from former major league Orlando Miller off starter and winner Alexander Francisco in the fourth, but the winningest Sioux City pitcher, now 9-6, was otherwise in control.
"I was getting them out with a slider to the right-handed batters and a changeup with the lefties,'' said Francisco, who struck out a season best nine Canaries. "My fastball was working pretty good, too.''
Miller, who played 237 games with Houston in 1994-95-96 and 50 with Detroit in 1997, tagged his seventh homer. The rangy shortstop drilled 15 homers and drove in 58 runs with Houston in 1996.
The game-winner, though was a solo round-tripper by Sioux City's Jorge Moreno leading off the fifth.
"I hit a breaking ball,'' said Moreno of his 12th homer. "Billy Williams (hitting coach) told me to stay back and wait for a breaking ball because he was throwing it a lot.''
The big shot put Sioux City ahead 4-2 and it loomed large because Casey Gordon doubled off Francisco in the sixth and got the third Canaries run on Ben Van Iderstine's ground out.
Joel Schmal worked a strong 2 1/3 innings of relief and Mike Nunes an interesting eighth before Matt Wilkinson got his 12th save, getting Abner Arroyo to hit into a double play to end the game.
In the eighth, Nunes gave up a single to Tim Marks, but he was thrown out at second on Cameron Coughlan's sacrifice bunt attempt. Then, Coughlan was picked off first on a 1-3-6-1 putout with Nunes applying the tag on Coughlan, who was trying to scramble back to first.
Brian Buchanan (3-4, 3.86 ERA) will be Sioux City's starting pitcher in the series opener tonight. Cameron Cheek (5-0, 1.84 ERA) will start the Tuesday game.
X's and OH's: Several members of the Indiana Wesleyan women's basketball team that won the NAIA Division II national championship at the Tyson Events Center last March were in attendance at the Sunday game at the invitation of local businessman and community booster Bob Roe. Two of the players. Lisa Thompson and Brooke Amstultz and Coach Steve Brooks were among several who threw out the collective first pitch. The Wesleyan team is conducting a clinic this week in Sioux Falls....
In St. Paul's 9-5 loss to Fort Worth that began Saturday and ended at 12:51 a.m. Sunday, the Saints tied the game at 5-5 in the seventh on a two-run single by Fernando Valenzuela Jr., the son of former Los Angles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. There was a two-hour rain delay at the start and then the 11-inning contest lasted three hours and 50 minutes before a crowd of 6,642.
Sioux Falls' Miller has bashed three of his seven home runs against Sioux City and he was hitting .591 against X's pitchers coming into the Sunday contest....
After six innings Sunday, 19 of the 36 outs in the game came via the strikeout route. A total of 21 batters ended up fanning.The modern American Association of 24 strikeouts came in a game between Shreveport and Pensacola on May 28, 2006.
They'll have to help themselves.
If Manager Ed Nottle's team is to win the North Division second-half pennant flag in a heated race with St. Paul, it is definitely in charge now of its own destiny.
Oh, the X's did get some help from Fort Worth, twice Sunday, in vaulting into a first-place tie with St. Paul after edging Sioux Falls Sunday 4-3 at Lewis and Clark Park.
The knot at the top of the North was created when South Division leader Fort Worth beat St. Paul 9-5 in an extra-inning game that didn't end until 12:51 a.m. Sunday and repeated the feat Sunday afternoon, sending the Saints to their fourth straight defeat, 5-1.
St. Paul and Sioux City, each 21-15, begin a crucial three-game series tonight at Lewis and Clark Park.
"I can't tell you how excited I am about this ballclub,'' said Nottle. "This is a team that battled all year and deserves to be where it is at right now.
"This is a group of guys I really respect. There's a wonderful feeling, but we haven't accomplished a damn thing except to get ourselves to this point.
"Now, if these guys play decent baseball they can enjoy something that not many people thought possible too long ago. There are 12 meaningful games left and that's exciting.
"I've been around this club for most of the time since we began in 1993 and this is the probably the biggest three-game series the Sioux City Explorers have ever had.
"I think these kids deserve the community coming out and supporting them.''
A crowd of 1,758 Sunday watched the X's move into first place this late in the season for the first time since the club won the first-half Northern League flag in 2002.
Because of rain, the start of the scheduled 5:05 contest was delayed 76 minutes.
Antsy to get going, the X's took command early, parading nine players to the plate in the first inning against Sioux Falls starter and loser Ryan Ford (5-5), who struck out a personal season-best nine batters and gave up all of Sioux City's runs in six innings.
Parlaying three walks and three singles, all after two were out, the result was a 3-0 lead with Paul Weichard lacing a two-run single and Alex Llanos a run-scoring single.
Weichard broke out of mini-slump with his single.
The native of Melbourne, Australia had struck out five straight times, including four Saturday, and fanned seven times in his previous nine at-bats in the series.
"I'm not so much worried about myself, the hitting will come around,'' said Weichard. "The important thing is this is an outstanding team, we're in first place and have a great opportunity to make the playoffs.''
Sioux Falls got a two-run homer from former major league Orlando Miller off starter and winner Alexander Francisco in the fourth, but the winningest Sioux City pitcher, now 9-6, was otherwise in control.
"I was getting them out with a slider to the right-handed batters and a changeup with the lefties,'' said Francisco, who struck out a season best nine Canaries. "My fastball was working pretty good, too.''
Miller, who played 237 games with Houston in 1994-95-96 and 50 with Detroit in 1997, tagged his seventh homer. The rangy shortstop drilled 15 homers and drove in 58 runs with Houston in 1996.
The game-winner, though was a solo round-tripper by Sioux City's Jorge Moreno leading off the fifth.
"I hit a breaking ball,'' said Moreno of his 12th homer. "Billy Williams (hitting coach) told me to stay back and wait for a breaking ball because he was throwing it a lot.''
The big shot put Sioux City ahead 4-2 and it loomed large because Casey Gordon doubled off Francisco in the sixth and got the third Canaries run on Ben Van Iderstine's ground out.
Joel Schmal worked a strong 2 1/3 innings of relief and Mike Nunes an interesting eighth before Matt Wilkinson got his 12th save, getting Abner Arroyo to hit into a double play to end the game.
In the eighth, Nunes gave up a single to Tim Marks, but he was thrown out at second on Cameron Coughlan's sacrifice bunt attempt. Then, Coughlan was picked off first on a 1-3-6-1 putout with Nunes applying the tag on Coughlan, who was trying to scramble back to first.
Brian Buchanan (3-4, 3.86 ERA) will be Sioux City's starting pitcher in the series opener tonight. Cameron Cheek (5-0, 1.84 ERA) will start the Tuesday game.
X's and OH's: Several members of the Indiana Wesleyan women's basketball team that won the NAIA Division II national championship at the Tyson Events Center last March were in attendance at the Sunday game at the invitation of local businessman and community booster Bob Roe. Two of the players. Lisa Thompson and Brooke Amstultz and Coach Steve Brooks were among several who threw out the collective first pitch. The Wesleyan team is conducting a clinic this week in Sioux Falls....
In St. Paul's 9-5 loss to Fort Worth that began Saturday and ended at 12:51 a.m. Sunday, the Saints tied the game at 5-5 in the seventh on a two-run single by Fernando Valenzuela Jr., the son of former Los Angles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. There was a two-hour rain delay at the start and then the 11-inning contest lasted three hours and 50 minutes before a crowd of 6,642.
Sioux Falls' Miller has bashed three of his seven home runs against Sioux City and he was hitting .591 against X's pitchers coming into the Sunday contest....
After six innings Sunday, 19 of the 36 outs in the game came via the strikeout route. A total of 21 batters ended up fanning.The modern American Association of 24 strikeouts came in a game between Shreveport and Pensacola on May 28, 2006.
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