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Tonight’s game did not have the smoothest ending, but it certainly was pretty sweet for the Hounds. After strong pitching from both sides kept the game knotted at 2-2 through nine innings, the Lexington Snipes (16-12) blew a run-one lead in the tenth and fell 4-3 to the DuPage Hounds (18-8).

Two MCL All-Stars battled on the mound tonight. John Munyon, the pitcher for the Snipes, was shaken up in the first, but settled down from there in his remaining seven innings of work. In total, he would only allow one earned run, while striking out nine, due largely in part to a dominating curveball.

On the other hand, Matt Frawley started for the home team, and apart from a tough fourth inning, he looked solid through seven innings. Frawley would be credited with two earned runs, but by limiting the Snipes to three hits, his pitching kept the Hounds in the game.

The Hounds’ offense jumped on board early in the first inning. After reaching base when Chris Maranto, the Snipes’ shortstop, committed an error, Connor Kopach stole second and put himself in position to score. From there, Drew LaComb doubled down the left field line to score Kopach and put the Hounds up 1-0.

The offense did not stop there. Following LaComb, Alex Cain singled, and up came Emerson Misch. With runners on first and third, Misch singled in between the first and second baseman for the Snipes, which allowed LaComb to score and stretch the lead to 2-0.

In the top of the fourth, the Snipes found some offense of their own and were able to tie the game.

The fourth inning started when Frawley hit Zach Barkdull to lead things off. From there, Barkdull advanced to second on a passed ball and was brought home when Adam Casson doubled into right. Following a groundout by Reed Rogers, Cale Robinson came up with Casson on third base and belted a triple that short-hopped the wall in centerfield. The RBI triple would bring the game into a 2-2 standoff.

From there, there were not too many threats until things got a little shaky for the Snipes in the bottom of the ninth. After a leadoff single by Alex Cain put a runner on base, two wild pitches in the inning by Max Osnowitz advanced him to third with two outs. In that spot, Osnowitz got Adam Wilson to groundout and end the threat.

Carrying some momentum into extras, Jake Capko started things off with a double in the tenth for the Snipes. Capko would later score from third after an RBI single by Zach Barkdull. Some might have thought this would have been the winning run, but the madness from the bottom of the ninth carried into the bottom of the tenth.

Osnowitz, struggling to find the strike zone still, hit Clayton Johannes to lead off the bottom half of the inning for the Hounds. Following Johannes, Richie Gorski, showing bunt, pushed the ball right back to Osnowitz on the mound. An edgy throw by Osnowitz put the ball behind Barkdull at first and allowed Gorski to reach base safely, but the play wasn’t over yet.

Osnowitz’s wild toss had Johannes thinking third. Rounding second, Johannes took off for third base, thinking he would beat a competing throw by Barkdull. Barkdull’s throw was out of control as well, so not only would Johannes score on the play to tie the game at 3-3, but the throw would also advance Richie Gorski all the way to third.

With the winning run in position, Frankie Perrone came up to bat against a new pitcher, and Eastern Illinois teammate, Adam Casson. Perrone would get the best of his teammate and nail a single past the shortstop of the Snipes to score Gorski and win the game for the Hounds 4-3.

An unconventional finish, but a win nonetheless for the Hounds puts them back on track and back to their winning ways. They look to carry this momentum into Friday, June 11^th, when they will have a double header at home against the Joliet Admirals and Chicago Zephyrs.

The Hounds will face the Admirals at 11:00 AM and finish the double header at 7:00 PM against the Zephyrs. The games will be played at Benedictine University.