Oconomowoc, Wis. – Back at Wisconsin Brewing Company Park for the first time after the All-Star Break, the Lake Country DockHounds shut out the Cleburne Ralroaders on Tuesday night, 6-0.
Connor Fenlong threw seven scoreless innings in his fourth professional start, limiting the top offense in the American Association to two hits and two walks while striking out five batters.
“Today was great, I felt like everything was working early on, I was able to stick to the game plan and didn’t have to adjust too much,” said Fenlong. “Having Hayden [Dunhurst] back behind the plate is huge for us as well. He called a great game.”
It’s the fifth shutout of the year for Lake Country’s staff, tied for the third-most in the American Association.
Ryan Hernandez got the party going with his tenth home run of the season to lead off the second inning, a towering flyball to left field. In the fifth inning, Brian Rey and Freddy Rojas, Jr. both singled and scored on an errant throw on Demetrius Sim’s sacrifice bunt. Sims would reach third base on the error and score on a sacrifice fly from Ray Zuberer III to extend the lead to four runs.
Brian O’Keefe mirrored Hernandez, swinging at the first pitch of the sixth inning and depositing it over the wall for his fourth long ball with Lake Country.
Eric Torres navigated an eighth-inning jam with a strikeout before Hernandez led off the bottom of the inning with his second home run of the day, this time just to the left of the batter’s eye in center field.
Six of Hernandez’s eleven home runs this year are against Cleburne – his former team. Not to be forgotten, Zuberer started his day off with an infield single, pushing his on-base streak to 25 games in a row. Daunte Stuart also stole his 19th base of the season in the contest.
Lake Country (39-28) snaps a four-game losing streak and returns to WBC Park on Wednesday night against Cleburne. First pitch is at 6:35 p.m. with Brett Conine scheduled to take the mound.
