The ThunderBolts eight came winning streak came to a grinding halt Wednesday night as they lost a tenth inning lead to the Kalamazoo Kings, 6-5 at Homer Stryker Field in Kalamazoo, MI.
The game did not start well for the Bolts as Alex Szymanski, making his professional debut for the Kings shut down the Bolts’ bats for seven innings.
Kalamazoo got the scoring started in the third against Windy City starter Brent Solich. With the bases loaded and one out, Matt Maloney doubled to left field, clearing the bases and giving the Kings the 3-0 lead. They added to the advantage in the sixth when a Kris Miller double knocked in Brendan Murphy.
Szymanski departed in the eighth, and the ThunderBolt hitters took advantage. Against reliever Jimmy Stanley, Michael Torres, Nick Kuroczko and Gilberto Mejia all picked up singles to load the bases. The next batter, Brandon Anderson, hit his second home run of the year, a game-tying grand slam over the right field wall.
That eventually led to extra innings, where the ThunderBolts took their first lead of the game. With one out, Mejia and Anderson hit back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners. Ryan Basham followed that up with a sacrifice fly to put the Bolts up 5-4.
In the bottom of the tenth, though, Nick Hall came on for his ninth save and lost the strike zone. He walked the leadoff batter, Murphy, and, after one out, hit Jordon Yost. A single from Bryan Marquez tied the game and JJ Sferra’s hit won it, 6-5. It was the ThunderBolts’ first loss since July 19. Hall fell to 4-3 while Tyler Hyde (1-0) picked up the win.
The same two teams go back at it Thursday night in Kalamazoo. Richard Barrett (1-0) gets the start for Windy City against Kalamazoo’s Josh Whitlock (0-8). Game time is 6:05 and it can be heard on Sportsjuice.com.
