The Peoria Chiefs behind another strong pitching performance from lefty Kyler Burke defeated the Burlington Bees 2-1 before 1,367 fans. Both of the Chiefs runs came by way of sacrifice flies. In the fourth, designated hitter Taylor Davis drove in Ryan Cuneo, who walked and then took third on Anthony Giansanti’s single. Burlington scored their only run in the third when B.A. Vollmuth drove in Sean Jamieson, who doubled. The victory gives Peoria its first four-game winning streak of the season. Click here for complete game stats.
-Bob
With a sellout crowd of 7,142 in attendance for Star Wars night at the ballpark, starter PJ Francescon put on a show of his own leading the Peoria Chiefs to a dominating 2-1 win over the Burlington Bees Saturday night. Despite the win, the game saw the end of Paul Hoilman’s franchise-record 24-game hit streak which began on April 14th. The Chiefs took advantage of some faulty defense in the bottom of the third. After walking his fifth batter of the game to start the frame, Burlington starter Raul Alcantara hurled an errant pickoff throw to first allowing Zeke DeVoss to scoot all the way to third. Taiwan Easterling was unable to get one past the drawn in infield but another errant throw from shortstop Sean Jamieson allowed DeVoss to cross home giving Peoria a 1-0 lead without recording a hit. After back-to-back flyouts, Easterling stole second and was brought home on a RBI single by Wes Darvill extending the Chiefs’ lead to 2-0. Click for complete game stats.
-Bob
There was no shortage of heroes for the Bradley University Baseball team in Sunday’s series finale against Missouri State (24-10, 4-2 MVC) at O’Brien Field before 510 fans on a sunny Easter Sunday. The Braves (16-12-1, 3-3 MVC) earned a 4-3 victory to win the series 2-games-to-1 against the league’s preseason favorite. Junior left fielder Mike Tauchman drove in the winning run in the eighth inning by dumping a 2-out single into left field to bring home freshman first baseman Andrew Wasmund from third. Senior closer Danny Gifford worked around a 2-out walk in the ninth to earn his fifth save of the season to nail down Bradley’s fifth win in its last five games. Redshirt freshman right-hander Patrick Flanagan was stellar in his first start of the season, subbing for the injured John Nasshan. Flanagan threw six scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and two walks while striking out four. Click Here for Box Score.
-Bob
Last night was special as I had the pleasure to spend time with and capture some lifetime memories of my friend Payton McSimov. Pete “Mr. Baseball” Vonachen greeted everyone in the main office and quickly presented Payton with an official league baseball & Pro-model bat to get autographed by the team. We were then escorted to the team locker room where all of the players and coaches were extremely courteous as they posed for pictures and autographed his gifts. One of my favorite shot’s is of Payton, his father Chad, his grandfather Ralph Sutton and Pete Vonachen posing for a photo on the bench before the game. He had the opportunity to play catch with Peoria Chiefs catcher Luis Flores on the field and visit in the dugout with the payers again before the start of the game. Before he left the field he stood next to Chiefs manager Casey Kopitzke during the National Anthem. He left the field to make his way up to his reserved box seat’s. They were located directly behind the Chiefs dugout. After all the pre-game activities it was time to relax with his family and “big brother” Bradley Basketball star Sam Maniscalco. Then he sat back to watch his favorite team while dining on chicken strips, french fries and ice cold lemonade. You can’t beat fun at the old ballpark and to see the smile it brought to his face was absolutely priceless!
-Bob
