By WJBC Staff
PEORIA – The Peoria Chiefs were trailing 5-2 against the West Michigan Whitecaps when storms stopped the contest in the top of the seventh inning Wednesday night. The loss drops the Chiefs to 27-32 with five games left on the final home stand of the first half.
The Whitecaps started the scoring in the top of the second against Chiefs right-hander Luis Perdomo. Will Kengor led off with an infield single and moved to third two batters later on a double by Shane Zeile. With two outs Garrett Mattlage singled through the right side to plate both runners and give West Michigan the 2-0 lead. After the runs were scored Chiefs manager Joe Kruzel was ejected by the home plate umpire during a visit to the mound.
The Whitecaps extended their lead in the third. Back-to-back singles from Michael Gerber and Joey Pankake put runners at the corners and Gerber scored on a fielder’s choice groundout by Kengor to give West Michigan the 3-0 lead.
West Michigan scored another run in the fourth. Zeile led off with a double and moved to third when Mattlage reached on a fielder’s choice. Zeile scored on a sacrifice fly by Derek Hill for the 4-0 lead.
The Chiefs got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the fifth. Adam Ehrlich and Vaughn Bryan each singled to open the inning and both men advanced 90 feet on a sacrifice bunt by Darren Seferina. Ehrlich scored on a single by Oscar Mercado and Bryan came home on a groundout by Danny Diekroeger to make it 4-2.
The Whitecaps scored another run in the top of the seventh before the rains came to end the contest. Ross Kivett doubled on the first pitch from new Chiefs right-hander Jhonny Polanco and he scored on a double by Gerber to make it 5-2. Immediately after Gerber’s at-bat the umpires called for the tarps to be put on the field, and the game was called with nobody out in the top of the seventh.
Perdomo (2-6) took the loss with six innings of work, allowing four runs on 10 hits, striking out five. Polanco came in and allowed one run on two doubles without retiring a batter before the game was stopped.
