SIOUX CITY WINS BOTH GAME OF THE DOUBLE DIP
SIOUX CITY, IA – The Sioux City Explorers (2-0) road a pair of ace like performances and plenty of offense in a Saturday night sweep of a twin bill over the Kansas City Monarchs (0-2).
Game 1
Solomon Bates (1-0) tossed hitless ball for four innings and would scatter just two hits over five scoreless innings to pick up his first win of the season in a 10-1 first game. Bates would go on to strike out six with five looking at the third strike.
The X’s took a 1-0 lead in the home half of the first with an RBI single from Jake Sanford off Monarchs starter lefty Jeff Singer (0-1). Vince Fernandez hit a double to left center to make it 2-0 Sioux City in the second inning. In the third inning, Eury Perez upped the score to 3-0 on an RBI ground out then Fernandez would drive in two more runs on an RBI single to right to make it 5-0. Fernandez would add another pair of runs to the tally in the fifth inning on a double for a five RBI game for the Explorers. He would go on to drive in seven runs on the night combined in both games.
Game 2
Sioux City picked up another five scoreless innings from Mitchell Verburg (1-0) to go along with nine strikeouts in a 7-0 shutout win. The combination of Kent Hasler and Brandon Brosher tossed a scoreless inning each to hold KC to goose eggs on the scoreboard.
The X’s dialed up the long ball in game two with Vince Fernandez hitting a two-run blast to right in the third off Monarchs starter Jalen Miller (0-1) and another three-run bomb to left from Chase Harris in the fourth. Jack Kelly belted a triple to add another run in the sixth inning as the Explorers went to 2-0 on the season.
The series will wrap up Sunday when the two teams will square off at 4:05 p.m at Mercy Field at Lewis and Clark Park. LHP Austin Drury will take the mound for Sioux City to face LHP Brandon Finnegan for Kansas City.
Tickets for the season can be purchased online as XSBaseball.com, in person at the Lewis and Clark Park Box Office or by calling 712-277-WINS. You can catch all the X’s action on aabaseball.tv and on radio at KSCJ 94.9 FM and 1360 AM.