Oconomowoc, Wisc. – The Lake Country DockHounds rolled over the Gary SouthShore RailCats on Wednesday on the back of Luke Hansel. The starting pitcher threw the first complete game shutout in over 1,093 days for Lake Country en route to an 8-0 win.
Hansel held the RailCats to just five hits over the outing. The young All-Star righty walked no one and struck out seven batters.
“I wasn’t going for strikeout stuff… just trusting my defense,” said Hansel. “Grateful with how it turned out, it’s a good building block for the second half.”
Eight DockHounds starters recorded a hit in the contest; six had multiple knocks; and it was highlighted by a five-run rally in the second inning. Ryan Hernandez led off the frame with his sixth home run of the year. After a Freddy Rojas Jr. single, Aaron Hill left the yard for two more runs, his seventh of the season. Hayden Dunhurst followed it up with a double and scored on an RBI single from Derek Maiben before Brian Rey brought Maiben home on an RBI fielder’s choice.
Up by five, Lake Country tacked on an insurance run in each of the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. A two-out rally started by a Ray Zuberer III single turned into an RBI double for Brian Rey. The next inning, Brian O’Keefe hit his first DockHound home run to center field. In the eighth inning, Rey and Hernandez hit back-to-back two-baggers to make it an eight-run lead.
Lake Country (34-24) goes for the sweep against Gary SouthShore (19-42) on Thursday at 11:05 a.m. Connor Fenlong (0-3, 2.19 ERA) takes the mound for the first-place DockHounds.
