By Peoria Chiefs
CLINTON- The Peoria Chiefs allowed a run in the bottom of the eighth and lost to the Clinton LumberKings 2-1 on Friday night. The loss drops the Chiefs to 26-27 in the second half and 66-57-1 overall.
The Chiefs had a leadoff double from Brian O’Keefe in the second inning but didn’t score against Kevin Gadea. Clinton took the lead with an unearned run in the third inning against John Kilichowski. Chris Mariscal singled and went to third as Arturo Nieto singled and Carlos Torres committed an error in right field. Rayder Ascanio drove home Mariscal with a sacrifice fly to center field for a 1-0 Clinton lead.
The Chiefs tied the game in the top of the fourth. O’Keefe connected on his 11th home run of the season with two outs in the inning. The Chiefs catcher has hit four of those homers against the LumberKings and leads the team in home runs.
The Chiefs had first and third in the fifth but didn’t take the lead. Peoria also had a runner on second with one out and runners on first and second with two outs in the eighth but left both on base.
Clinton took the lead in the eighth against Josh Wirsu. With one out Ascanio singled to right and he moved to third on a double-play ball that went under the glove of Eli Alvarez but was ruled a single for Ricky Eusebio. Pinch-hitter Gus Craig capitalized with a single to right for a 2-1 Clinton lead. The Chiefs went in order against Matt Walker in the ninth.
Kilichowski allowed one unearned run on five hits over six innings in the no-decision. He struck out six and didn’t issue a walk in a quality star. Wirsu (1-1) took the loss allowing one run on four hits over two innings while striking out two.
