Cade Horton – Picture by Todd Johnson

Baseball got started early today when South Bend took to the field around 10 AM central. In addition to the action on the field, there was a hot dog eating contest to raise money for charity where the broadcasters and media team tried to eat nine hot dogs in nine innings. Unfortunately, only one of the four people in the contest was able to do that. It was for a good cause, and a lot of fun to watch as they tried to force them down. Chris Hagstrom–Jones came away as the winner with all nine hot dogs eaten, Max Tomah came in second at 7.25 hotdogs. 

As for the action on the field…

Cade Horton gave up two runs today, but struck out 8 in four innings. He threw 54 pitches on the day, 40 of them for strikes. Well, that is good in terms of control, one can begin to wonder if he’s too much in the zone for right now. We are still really early in his development and it’s easy to pick out things but we really can’t be nitpicky at this point as he learns how to pitch at this level. He can work on the other stuff later when needed. 

The Cubs offense only scraped out five hits on the day as they lost 4 to 1 today. No one made the two hit club today.

Night Action 

For Tennessee, outside of Luis Vazquez, the offense sputtered again tonight. In total, the Smokies only managed 6 hits and 1 run. Unfortunately, Birmingham scored 3 runs on 8 hits. Starting pitcher Kohl Franklin went 5.2 innings and gave up 2 runs, but it was not meant to be as the Smokies lost 3-1.

For Iowa, it was not a good night to be a pitcher named Thompson as Riley and Keegan were tagged for 8 runs in 2.1 IP. Oof!!! And “Oof” again. Jake Slaughter hit a dinger again but the I-Cubs got drubbed 13-2 by Nashville. And one more “oof” is needed.

As for the Birds, they came back from a 4-2 deficit to take a 5-4 lead but could not hold it. After 9, it was 5-5. The Pelicans scored one in the top of the tenth to take a 6-5 lead. Reivaj Garcia, Andy Garriola, and Felix Stevens all had two hits. 

Two Hit Club

Luis Vazquez, Reivaj Garcia, Andy Garriola, Felix Stevens, and Jake Slaughter.