Lansing Chases Dayton out of Town

Monday, June 15 2009 @ 10:05 PM EDT

Contributed by: Dave Rutt

Actually, Lansing was in Dayton, so that headline doesn't make any sense apart from the terrible pun. Lansing did beat up on the Aces though, to highlight a 2-1 night on the farm.

Las Vegas 3 at Reno 5

A cursory glance at Brett Cecil's line would have you believe he deserved better. Cecil allowed 8 hits and 1 walk in a complete game, 8 inning effort, while striking out 7 and getting 12 ground-outs to only 4 fly-outs. However, that line neglects the fact that 5 of those hits were for extra bases - 4 doubles and a home run - and that's why Cecil allowed 5 runs on the evening. Still, there were positive signs, and Cecil continues to solidify himself as next in line should another starter be needed at the big league level - perhaps for good this time.

Las Vegas' offense was almost as good as Reno's, but they just couldn't string their hits together as efficiently. Four 51s reached base twice - Buck Coats was 2-5 with a double, Randy Ruiz was 2-4 with a double, Brett Harper went 1-3 with a solo homer and a walk, and J.P. Arencibia was 1-3 with a triple, walk and strike-out.

New Hampshire - scheduled off-day

Fort Myers 1 at Dunedin 2

For eight and a half innings, the Dunedin bats were silenced by Miraculous pitching, and after Fort Myers scraped a run across in the 6th, things weren't looking good for the D-Jays. But the real Miracle came in the bottom of the 9th, when Eric Thames singled, Matt Liuzza walked, a wild pitched moved the runners up, Kevin Ahrens brought one home with a sac fly, and a fielding error by first baseman Chris Parmelee brought home the winning run.

Charles Huggins continued his fine pitching with 6 innings of 1 WHIP ball - 2 hits and 4 walks. He also gave up Fort Myers' only run. Tim Collins and Trystan Magnuson kept Dunedin in the game with 3 shutout innings.

The offense didn't do a whole lot (until the 9th inning, anyway). Darin Mastroianni was the only D-Jay to reach base twice - he had 2 walks.

Lansing 11 at Dayton 2

After Lansing scored a run in each of the first two innings, Dayton thought they'd make this one a close game by tying it up in the second. They were wrong. Chase Lirette and Jason Roenicke shut them down the rest of the way, and the Lansing bats made sure this one wasn't close.

Lirette pitched 6 innings, and 5 of them were superb. Apart from the second inning, in which he gave up a walk and a homer, he allowed just one base-runner on a single. For the game, Chase struck out 5. He's had a nice little start to the season - 33 innings, 20 hits, 8 walks, 24 strikeouts. Don't get too excited, though - he's 24 and pitching in Lansing.

The Nuts broke out the lumber on this night, and there were a number of hitting stars that deserve mention. Justin McClanahan went 3-5 with a homer, Johermyn Chavez was 2-4 with a walk and a homer (and 2 Ks), Brian Van Kirk went 4-5 with a double, and Mike McDade had a homer and a single in 4 trips.

Three Stars
3. Chase Lirette - 6 innings, 3 base-runners
2. Justin McClanahan - 3-5, homer
1. Brian Van Kirk - 4-5, 2B

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