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Down on the Farm: 2-1 record, Iowa postponed, strong pitching, more
Patrick Gorski - USA Today Sports

Down on the Farm: 2-1 record, Iowa postponed, strong pitching, more


by - Senior Writer -

It was one of the best nights on the farm system as all three teams in action managed to play some of their best games of the season with two of them picking up victories and one falling late. The lone exception was Iowa as cold temps, and high winds forced a postponement to be played in a doubleheader Saturday.

IOWA CUBS vs. Oklahoma City Dodgers: Postponed

TENNESSEE SMOKIES 7 – Birmingham Barons 1: The Smokies continued their strong stretch of play as both the offense and defense were on point. A great outing from Cory Abbot (5 2/3 innings, 1 ER, 1 BB 8k’s) mixed with a relentless offensive attack that pounded out ten hits, the Smokies grabbed an early lead and never looked back.

Even though it took three innings for the offense to get going, Tennessee made sure their presence would be felt taking a commanding lead in the third. Starting with an error that allowed Connor Myers to score and putting a pair of runners in scoring position, Jared Young continued to pile up the RBI’s lashing a two-run single and 3-0 advantage. Ian Rice would later rip a double to plate Young as the Smokies were in front 4-0.

That score would hold up until the sixth inning before the Barons were finally able to get to Abbot. Even with plenty of hits through the first five innings, Abbot was able to work around trouble keeping the Barons scoreless. That was until Micker Adolfo singled in the sixth to end the shut out bid and cut things to 4-1. The Smokies pen would prevent any further damage as the offense went back to work.

A triple from Myers followed by a Clayton Daniel single in the seventh pushed the lead to 6-1 before the Smokies added a ninth-inning run to win 7-1. Daniel had a terrific night at the dish picking up three hits, while Myers and Rice each added a pair of hits also.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 6 – Fayetteville 1: It may have taken a while for the Pelicans to play a complete game, but Friday night was as close to a complete game effort as Myrtle Beach has seen this season. From the pitching down through the hitting, the Pelicans were ready to go, and they showed that by disposing of the Woodpeckers 6-1.

Paul Richan earned the win in this one going five strong innings and battling through some early control issues. Richan didn’t need to be on top of his game as the Pelicans supported him with five runs of support after just two innings of play.

Miguel Amaya got the scoring started with a sharp single to left before Luke Reynolds followed suit with a single of his own for the 2-0 lead.

The single parade continued with Carlos Sepulveda as he pushed the lead to 3-0 after one inning of play. The Woodpeckers responded with a run in the top half of the second when Michael Papierski singled up the middle, but that would be the lone run of the game with Myrtle Beach shutting them down the rest of the way.

The Pelicans offense looked to show the first inning was no fluke and their offense was at it yet again. With traffic on all the bases, Jimmy Herron brought home a pair with his double as the Myrtle Beach lead ballooned to 5-1. Jhonny Bethencourt capped off the scoring with a bases-loaded walk in the fifth as the Pelicans cruised to the 6-1 win to move to 2-7 on the season.

Despite collecting just four hits in the game from Amaya, Herron, Reynolds, and Sepulveda, it was the 11 walks they earned at the dish proving to be the difference.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 4 – Lansing Lugnuts 5: After what looked to be a promising night in South Bend, a late-game rally from the Lugnuts handed the Cubs yet another nail-biting loss 5-4. Eury Ramos showed signs of growth in his second start of the season. Although far from crisp, Ramos showed toughness on the mound as he battled through five innings on the mound.

With Alejandro Kirk putting Lansing up 1-0 with a first-inning homer, the Lugnuts put the Cubs in an even bigger hole in the fourth when Jordan Groshans belted the second homer of the night for Lansing pushing things to 3-0 in their favor. South Bend was looking for offense in a hurry, and they wasted no time getting one of those runs back in the bottom of the frame.

As Nelson Velazquez continued to get on base at a frantic clip, Christopher Morel got South Bend on the board as his triple scored Velazquez to make it a 3-1 lead. That was the hit that seemed to wake the bats for South Bend as their offense continued the comeback effort just an inning later. D.J. Artis reached base to start the rally as he came around to score on another triple, this time from Andy Weber to make it a 3-2 game. Weber would score a few pitches later when Jonathan Sierra singled him home to draw even 3-3.

Now with a new ballgame and all tied up, South Bend continued to have the momentum on their side looking for their first lead of the game. Already with one RBI in the game, Weber continued his recent run of clutch hitting with a single to give South Bend a 4-3 lead after seven innings of play. As quickly as momentum went the Cubs way, it evaporated just as fast with a fielding error helping the Lugnuts even things up 4-4 in the eighth.

The Lansing offense retook the lead in the ninth as D.J. Neal singled home the go-ahead and eventual winning run for the 5-4 lead. With just three outs to work with, South Bend made things a bit interesting the bottom of the ninth. After the first two hitters struck out, consecutive singles from Artis and Cole Roederer suddenly had the winning run on base with the Cubs hottest hitter at the dish in Weber. Unfortunately, Weber was not able to come through whiffing to end the game as South Bend falls late 5-4.

The Cubs owned the hit column 11-7 with Roederer, Weber, and Sierra all collecting a pair of hits and combined for three of the teams four RBIs.

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