South Park Hangs On For 5-4 Win Over Allegheny Vision Vipers

South Park jumped out to a 5-0 lead through 4 1/2 innings before some poor fielding and timely hitting by Allegheny Vision Associates allowed the Vipers to make it a nail biter. In the first inning Adam Weber drove home Luis Gonzalez for the game's first score. In the second inning, starter Billy Welsh would get 2 quick outs and then after Ryan Dodson reached on an error, Welsh would walk 3 straight to give South Park its second run. In the 4th frame the Vipers would make a pitching change , bringing on D.J. Newby. Newby would drill South Park batter David Monaco in the back with his first pitch and Alejandro Pelaez would make sure that was a bad decision as he hit a monstrous home run deep out of Millennium Park and put the lead at 4-0. Ryan Dodson would then single and a terrible bunt by Vinnie Markulin would work in South Park's favor as the ball was thrown away and Dodson ended up at third. Luis Gonzalez would bring Dodson home with a single and collect his second RBI and make it 5-0. South Park starting pitcher Dylan Pounds was cruising until the 4th when he worked out of a bases loaded jam and then the Vipers nicked him for a run in the 5th after a Nick Arnoni's double and error. The Vipers would tack on 2 more after consecutive singles by Devin Donaldson and David Boehme led to a tailor-made double play ball that was mishandled by South Park shortstop Luis Gonzalez, allowing one to score. Adam Crawford came on as a pinch hitter and singled in Boehme to make it 5-3. Jose Moreno came on in the 7th for South Park and got a slow ground ball to second that forced a bad throw allowing Latham-Mason to reach and he would eventually score after a Donaldson groundout and make it 5-4 with a runner on first. Moreno would get David Boehme to ground into a fielders choice and give South Park the close win. The Vipers were led offensively by Joe Killian who doubled twice, Donaldson collected a pair of singles and Arnoni doubled. Starting pitcher Dylan Pounds earned the win as the veteran hurler went 6 innings, striking out 6 and walking none while surrendering only one earned run. Moreno picked up the save for South Park who will be back in action Monday night to take on the Allegheny Vision Associates again.

Date: July 6, 2024     Time: 12:00pm      Venue: Millennium Park