6/16/07: Mud Hens Continue To Roll, Annihilate Chiefs

Saturday night, there was no doubt why the Toledo Mud Hens are back-to-back Governor's Cup champions. Toledo rolled off 8 runs in the sixth inning to turn a 3-2 Chiefs lead into a 10-3 deficit. They finished it off in the seventh scoring two more, making it 12-3, which was our final score at Alliance Bank Stadium. Syracuse started off strong, getting singles from their first four batters, giving them a 2-0 leading before the first out of the game was recorded against them. However, after loading the bases with 1 out, they could not score anymore in the 1st. Toledo followed up with a run in the second, a solo shot by Chris Shelton. The Chiefs responded with a run in the second, but that was all they would muster for the game. Toledo starter Ron Chiavacci (6-4) gets the win, going 6 innings and settling down after the rocky 1st inning. John Thomson (2-4) gets the loss for Syracuse. Thomson pitched 5 strong innings, only giving up 2 runs, however the sixth inning was his undoing. After giving up a lead off double to Timo Perez, Thomson walked the next three batters, before finally being pulled. Jim Crowell was brought in, and did not fair much better. After walking Jack Hannahan to score a run, David Espinosa ripped a hard sac fly near the gap, which Center fielder Wayne Lydon made a nice catch on. Crowell gave up three more consecutive singles before striking out Timo Perez and subsequently being taken out. Ismael Ramirez came into the game, 8-4 with runners on first and second, and got Ryan Raburn to hit a high fly ball into right field, which should have ended the inning. However, outfielders Mike Vento and Wayne Lydon were no where near the ball when it landed, giving Raburn a base clearing triple. Neither outfielder saw the ball nor made a good attempt to get into a position where they could. The play summed up the series so far.

Notes: Right fielder Mike Vento left the game in the seventh inning after being hit by a pitch in the arm. Infielder John Hattig has not played in the last 8 contests due to an unknown reason. Former Chiefs catcher Sal Fasano was outrighted by the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.