The ThunderBolts’ stretch of great pitching continued Friday night as Brent Solich struck out 12 Kalamazoo Kings over seven shutout innings and the Bolts took the game 7-0 at Standard Bank Stadium.
Windy City got the scoring started early for the second straight night with a first inning run. Gilberto Mejia hit a leadoff double, moved to third on Brandon Anderson’s fly out and scored on a Ryan Basham sacrifice fly.
They blew the game wide open in the second. The Bolts used three hits, three walks and a hit batter for a five-run rally. RBI hits came from Nick Kuroczko, Basham and Jeremy Hamilton with Anderson driving one in on a walk. Windy City ultimately sent ten batters to the plate in the second, chasing Kalamazoo starter Curt Dixon from the ballgame.
Windy City added another run in the fourth on a Hamilton sacrifice fly, but all the offense was more than Solich needed. The left-hander struck out a career-high 12 on his way to his fifth victory. The Kings collected six hits against Solich but hit very few balls hard. Greg Stolzenburg threw a scoreless eighth and Thomas Mueller pitched the ninth to close out the victory.
The seven shutout innings increase Solich’s scoreless streak to 15.2 innings after he blanked the Crushers over 8.1 on Sunday. He improves his record to 5-5. Dixon took the loss, falling to 1-3.
Windy City and Kalamazoo conclude their series tomorrow with the ThunderBolts going for their second series sweep of Kalamazoo. Fireworks will be presented after the contest. The game begins at 7:05 from Standard Bank Stadium and can be heard on the radio on WXAV 88.3 fm. Richard Barrett (0-0) gets the call for Windy City against Kalamazoo’s Josh Whitlock (0-7).
