Team News

 

The DuPage Hounds fell apart late last night against the NW Indiana Oilmen giving them their fourth loss of the season. They looked to rebound against the Southland Vikings (5-6).

 

The left handed Brett Maus (1-2, 1.58 ERA) took the rubber to steer the Hounds in the right direction. Southland went with the 6’6 righty Evan Nietfeldt (1-1, 7.29). Maus has struggled since opening night when he threw eight innings and struck out 14. Nietfeldt pitched one scoreless inning against the Hounds on June 14 when the Vikings beat them 7-0.

 

The Vikings jumped on the board early stringing two hits together. The hounds had an error in the inning which lead to the score being 1-0 Vikings.

For the Hounds, Tim Delany leadoff the game with a double deep to left, but was not able to get around to score. Brian Rodemoyer scorched a ball down the third base line with two outs to put runners in scoring position and then Matt Richer was promptly walked to load the bases. Chase Toth came to the plate and after a lengthy at-bat, grounded out to end the inning. Vikings still lead 1-0.

 

The second inning started off promisingly as Conor Philbin was walked. Kyle Hunsinger bunted Philbin to second and the Hounds were looking good. For the second time in the game though, DuPage walked away with nothing.

 

The bottom of the third the dogs were at it again. Mitch Gasbarro singled to start the inning and Paul DeJong was hit by a pitch to put two runners on the pond. Rodemoyer layed down a text-book sac bunt even though he was hitting the clean-up spot. With runners on second and third, Matt Richer hit a sac fly to right to get the game knotted at 1-1.

 

The top of the fourth was not a pretty one for Maus. After walking the first two batters, he was able to strike one out. After a line drive to right the bases were loaded. A weak single to first base could have  been the second out of the inning, but a bang-bang play at the plate went in the Vikings’ favor making the score 2-1 with the bases still loaded. A bloop to right field made the score 3-1 Vikings. The Hounds got out of the inning with a 4-6-3 double play.

 

The Vikings would not leave Maus alone tacking on another run in the 5th. 4-1 Vikings.

 

Patrick Bellinger (1-0, 7 IP) entered for Maus in the 6th inning. Maus went five innings giving up seven hits and four runs. He walked four and struck out two.

 

The Vikings jumped on Bellinger early when right fielder Jeff Boehm blaster a double off the left field fence that scored one making the score 5-1.

 

The bottom of the 6th started with a walk to Richer. Then with Toth at the plate, a bizarre played occurred. Toth bunted to the left side and it was bobbled by Chris Stevens the Vikings’ third baseman. As most thought the play was over, Richer made a dash to third as it was uncovered. The throw to third was wild and rolled into left field scoring Richer while Toth moved to second. The score moved to 5-2.

 

Southland went to a southpaw in Bryan Jagielo (1-0, 7.04 ERA) for the bottom of the 7th.

 

DuPage showed no quit as Delany singled to start the inning. Gasbarro bunted Delany over and Rodemoyer had a RBI fielder’s choice. The dogs kept barking as Richer doubled down the first base line to bring in Rodemoyer from first. The Vikings’ lead was cut down to one as the score was 5-4.

 

There was not a dull moment in this game. In the top of the 8th, Bellinger gave up an infield single then a walk which made Osborn move to another bullpen arm. Kyle Dermady (1-0, 5.40 ERA) entered to work out of the jam.

 

 

Dermady wasn’t able to avoid the ‘big’ inning giving up three runs making the score 8-4.

 

The Hounds went into the 9th down four and left that way.

 

The win went to Nietfeldt and the loss to Maus.

 

This was the first time the Hounds have lost back to back games this summer. The dogs fall to 9-5 and the win pushes the Vikings to 6-6.

 

The Hounds face the Lexington Snipes tomorrow at 6 p.m.