Oconomowoc, Wisc. – The Lake Country Flying Monkeys have returned to Wisconsin Brewing Company Park, and they began a three-game series against the Sioux City Explorers with a dominant 7-2 win on Friday night.
Aaron Hill clubbed his third home run of the season to left field in the second inning and the Flying Monkeys rallied for six runs in the sixth.
Lake Country sent eleven batters to the plate in the lengthy frame. It started with a Ryan Hernandez walk before base hits from Luke Roskam and Brian Rey. Demetrius Sims walked and Luis Aviles Jr. hit a two-run pinch-hit single before Daunte Stuart singled himself. Ray Zuberer III walked before Hernandez and Roskam walked again, completing the 11-batter action.
Kelvan Pilot made his fourth start of the year and cruised through six scoreless innings of three-hit baseball while striking out four.
“I just made sure I stuck to my routine, even if it means waiting over a week between outings,” said Pilot. “I felt great with my changeup early and had to adjust after I started to lose my slider in the middle innings. I talked with Hayden…we’d talked a lot throughout the week and played a lot of catch, I wanted to focus on building a relationship with him…and we started being aggressive with the fastball.”
The Explorers answered with two runs in the seventh inning off of Bryce Bonnin who collected another punchout. Beau Philip and Trey Riley shut the door in the final two innings, combining for one hit and two final strikeouts.
Stuart, Roskam and Rey each had two hits including a double from Stuart and two more from Roskam. Stuart and Sims each stole a bag as well.
The 14-10 Flying Monkeys return on Saturday against Sioux City. The first 1,000 fans at Wisconsin Brewing Company Park will receive a Scarecrow Louie Bobblehead thanks to Lake Louie Brewing. Arrive early and enjoy the Louie Fest Pregame Warmup Party in the Kona Ice Kids Zone. Gates open at 4pm for a 5:35pm first pitch.
