June 15, 2023

Tremendous Catch Seals DockHounds Victory

Demetrius Sims brings in the winning run for the DockHounds against Lincoln Saltdogs.

Lincoln, Neb — Blake Tiberi rewarded the Lake Country DockHounds who tuned on the 11:05 first pitch with a leadoff home run to give Lake Country the lead from the beginning. They led with no outs in the first, all the way until the ninth, but ultimately needed extra innings.

Connor Fisk turned in another excellent start for Lake Country, throwing six scoreless innings for back-to-back outings with at least six frames while allowing no runs.

The bullpen for the DockHounds has been great of late, and only having to cover three innings over the past three days, they were well rested to protect Lake Country’s 2-0 lead. Keisy Portorreal allowed two walks and a run in the seventh, and Jojanse Torres walked three in the ninth to blow the save and was a tremendous running grab by Thomas Jones away from taking the loss.

Lake Country lost its first two extra-inning games of the season, and failed to score the runner that starts at second base with no outs in both of those contests.

Tiberi crushed the first pitch of the 10th up the middle, but Lincoln Saltdogs shortstop Drew Devine made a tremendous diving play to retire Tiberi while Michael Marrale advanced to third. Thomas Jones smacked a deep line drive to center for a sacrifice fly, regaining the lead for the DockHounds.

Getting that run in the top half is of course important, but settling for just one is not ideal with Lincoln starting with a runner at second in the bottom half as well. Demetrius Sims knew that, but there’s only one way to score a run with the bases now empty: leave the yard. Sims worked a full count and crushed a home run just over the wall in right-center.

Augie Voight entered for the home half to protect the 4-2 lead with the tying run at the plate. His first pitch hit NIck Anderson, now bringing the winning run to the plate. With some help from his defense, Voight shut the door and the DockHounds evened up the series.

Omar Meregildo, who went 0-3, reached over the concrete to make a grab in foul ground, and Dustin Woodcock, who struck out five times Wednesday, saved the game with a leaping grab at the wall to bring back a would-be walk-off home run. Even when the DockHounds don’t have the best day at the plate, they still put their paw on the game.

First pitch for the rubber match of the series will be at 7:05 CT Thursday.