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Noah Perio Jr tripled, homered and has his second four RBI night in the series. Matty Johnson extends hit-streak to eighteen games, and Jeff Marquez has a strong outing on the mound to get the win 9-4 over the Blasters. 

Sioux City got the bats rolling early, plating a run right away to start the ball game. X’s right-fielder Michael Lang reached base on balls, moved to second on a groundout and later scored off a Ryan Court base hit, scoring Lang from third base. Joplin answered in the second, with a solo home run by Jake Taylor to tie it 1-1. 

Explorers put up three more runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Austin Stubbs knocked in a runner in the fourth. In the top half of the fifth, X’s shortstop Noah Perio Jr smashed a two run dinger to give them four on the contest. 

Another home run by Joplin cut the lead in the fifth, Blaster right-fielder Jesus Solorzano homered with a runner on to make it 4-3 Explorers after five. 

In the top half of the seventh, Tim Colwell led-off with a single and advanced to second off a sacrifice bunt placed by Matty Johnson to start the inning. On the next at-bat, Michael Lang reached base off an error by the first baseman to put two on with no outs. Both Colwell and Lang  would go on to cross home plate, when Noah Perio Jr ripped a triple to score the two base runners. 

Sioux City put up two more in the eighth. Matty Johnson singled to plate Ino Patron for the first run, and Michael Lang hit a sac-fly RBI to centerfield to score Colwell from third base. Explorers second baseman Ryan Court tacked on one more in the ninth off a lead-off solo shot, to give the X’s a 9-4 lead. Jose Flores pitched the bottom of the ninth for Sioux City, closing it out and clinching the win 9-4 in Joplin. 

Explorers starter Jeff Marquez (5-5) received the win going six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, four walks and a strikeout. Jake Meires (1-3) got the start and no decision for Joplin, giving up four runs in six innings. The losing pitcher on the night was leftihander Josue Montanez (0-1). The reliever let two runners cross in 1.1 innings pitched. 

The Explorers had five batters have two hits in the game, with Noah Perio taking home the Player of the Game honors. Perio went 2 for 5 with four RBIs, a triple and a home run. Ryan Court homered in the ball game as well, along with two hits and two runs batted in. 

The Explorers will take Monday and Tuesday off, but will be back at Lewis and Clark Park on Wednesday to take on the Laredo Lemurs in a four game series (15th-18th). For 2015 ticket information at Lewis and Clark Park, call (712) 277-WINS or visit the X’s website at www.xsbaseball.com