TinCaps Fall To South Bend In 11

CLICK ON VIDEO TAB TO SEE HIGHLIGHTS COURTESY OF WSBT-TV.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Despite six and one-third nearly flawless innings from Matt Wisler on Saturday night, the TinCaps could not protect a lead and lost, 3-2 in 11 innings, to the South Bend Silver Hawks. Fort Wayne reliever James Jones surrendered a walk-off base hit to Silver Hawks second baseman Eric Groff, allowing South Bend to win the opener of the three-game set.

After picking up just one base hit over the first six innings, Fort Wayne (10-6, 41-45) picked up two runs in the seventh inning against South Bend starter Tyler Green. Mike Galllic connected on an RBI single and Yeison Asencio followed with a triple, giving the TinCaps a 2-0 advantage.

Although the TinCaps provided a late advantage, Wisler did not factor in the decision despite not allowing a hit over his first six innings. South Bend (8-8, 43-43) first baseman Tom Belza walked to lead off the seventh, and Marc Bourgeois picked up a base hit two batters later. With a career-high 6 1/3 frames under his belt, Wisler, who gave up one hit, walked two and fanned six, exited in favor of James Needy.

Ryan Court was the first batter to see the righthander, and Court promptly singled to center, scoring Belza and making it 2-1 in favor of Fort Wayne. It remained a one-run game until the bottom of the ninth, when Daniel Cropper was called upon from the Fort Wayne bullpen. South Bend’s Matt Helm led off with a solo home run to right field, tying the game at two.

In both the 10 ^th and the 11 ^th, Fort Wayne put a runner at second base, but could not convert the scoring opportunities. In the bottom of the 11 ^th, Jones allowed a leadoff double to Helm, who scored the game-winning run with two outs on Groff’s base hit.

Game two of the series is scheduled for 2:00 PM on Sunday afternoon at Coveleski Stadium. The scheduled starters are Cody Hebner for Fort Wayne and J.R. Bradley for South Bend.