South Bend Silver Hawks Drop the Peoria Chiefs in Battle of Last Place Teams

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – South Bend, IN – The Peoria Chiefs dropped a high scoring affair 8-5 Friday night to the South Bend Silver Hawks in a matchup of the two worst records on the Midwest League. The Chiefs are starting a 10-game road trip and are now 9-18 on the season while South Bend improves to 8-18.

     The Chiefs put three hits together against South Bend starter Jordan Norberto to take a lead in the second inning. Marquez Smith led off with a triple to the gap in right-center. Jovan Rosa followed with a RBI single to center and moved to second on a one-out hit by Elvis Lara. But the Chiefs left two on as Norberto retired the next two batters and Peoria settled for a 1-0 lead.

     The lead was short lived as South Bend struck back against Chris Siegfried in the bottom of the second. Sean Coughlin drew a lead-off walk on four pitches and Clayton Connor deposited a two-run homer into the left-field berm. Siegfried followed with his first strikeout of the night before a single and a double play ended the inning with the Chiefs trailing 2-1.

ADVERTISEMENT

     South Bend broke the game open in the fourth inning against Siegfried. Mike Mee led off with an infield single and moved to third on a double off the wall by Sean Coughlin. Mee scored on a wild pitch for a 3-1 Hawks lead before Connor singled home Coughlin. Derrick Walker followed with a monstrous two-run homer of the berm and billboards in left to give South Bend a 6-1 lead before Siegfried got out of the frame.

     Peoria charged right back in the top of the fifth to send Norberto to the showers. With one out, Nate Samson doubled down the left field line and Josh Donaldson crushed a homer to left. Norberto quickly walked Kyler Burke and Smith followed with a towering two-run shot of his own to cut the lead to 6-5. The homers were the second of the season for both Donaldson and Smith. After walking Rosa, Norberto was lifted and reliever Jeff Dietz got out of the inning with South Bend still on top.

     South Bend kept the offense going in the bottom of the fifth against Chiefs reliever Audy Santana. Evan Frey drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Trevor Harbin tripled off the centerfield wall as Frey scored for a 7-5 Hawks lead. Mike Mee doubled to left as Dylan Johnston fell down for an 8-5 lead but the Chiefs threw Mee out at third base for the first out of the inning. Santana recovered to get two line outs to right to end the inning.

     Siegfried takes the loss and falls to 0-3 on the season after allowing six runs and eight hits over four innings. The left-hander surrendered two home runs and struck out three. Audy Santana allowed two runs on two hits and a walk over two innings. Indiana native Todd Blackford made his return from arm surgery with a scoreless seventh inning. Craig Muschko allowed a hit and a walk while striking out one in his lone scoreless inning. 

Player of the Game – Marquez Smith (3B) – Smith hit his team-leading fourth triple in the second inning and blasted his second home of the season in the fifth. Smith doubled in the seventh and had a shot at the cycle in the ninth before striking out. He is tied for second in the MWL in triples and finished the night 3-for-5 with three extra base hits, two runs scored and two RBI.  

Notes… Jovan Rosa singled in the second inning and now has a five game hit streak…Donaldson and Smith have hit both of their homers in the same innings of the same games, the 9^th inning on April 10 and the 5^th inning tonight…The Chiefs had been 4-0 when scoring five or more runs on the season…Peoria scored first for just the ninth time in 27 games this season…Samson has back-to-back multi-hit games and is 7-for-15 over his last four games…The Chiefs caught two runners on the bases in the first inning as Siegfried picked Evan Frey off first base and Donaldson threw out Mike Mee at second on a pitch in the dirt…Chiefs pitchers have now allowed a MWL high 23 homers while hitting just 10 offensively…The three-game series continues Saturday afternoon at 1:30…The Chiefs will send RH Alberto Cabrera (1-3, 5.66) to the hill against RH Bryan Augenstein (0-0, 2.43)…The game can be heard live beginning with the pre-game show at 1:15 PM online at www.peoriachiefs.com or on WOAM 1350.

Subscribe TODAY and use the code BMR for 50% Holiday Savings off of the $11.99 annual subscription price!!!