By Andrew Mild
The Lake County Corn Dogs hit the road for the last time this regular season in a game against the NWI Oilmen on Tuesday. The Corn Dogs had already won the Northern League Regular Season Championship, but with the Oilmen and the Joliet Generals battling for the third-place spot, the Corn Dogs could play spoiler against their Lake County rivals.
Check out the box score on Pointstreak.
With two outs in the first inning, Danny Puplava smoked a ball into left field and sent in Gavin Terry to give the Corn Dogs a 1-0 advantage in the first inning. The Oilmen tied it in the second.
In the third inning, C.J Byrdak cut down the first two hitters he faced, and after a single from Jake Ferry, Cal Curiel doubled off the left field wall and the Corn Dogs recaptured the lead.
The Oilmen finally broke open on offense with some big hits in the sixth inning from Sai Robinson, wo hit an RBI-double to tie the game. Northern league Player of the Week Cain Headrick would stay hot with a double of his own that gave the Oilmen a 3-2 lead.
This Oilmen lead would not last very long, as the Corn Dogs scored on an error, then took the lead after Jake Ferry singled into center to drive in a second run and put his team up.
Then, with two outs in the eighth inning, Colin Small hit a ball hard down the left field line into the corner, which led to two more runs for the Corn Dogs.
The Corn Dogs scored two runs off a Doug Loden double and an error, giving them an 8-3 lead, and that would be the final score. The Corn Dogs are now 32-11.
Starting pitcher Christian Bokich went four innings and allowed just one run in his second start with the Corn Dogs. Mark Tor tallied up his second save this season.
Ferry, the Macron Player of the Game, went 4-5 with an RBI and a run that gave the Corn Dogs the lead. It was Ferry’s first four-hit game this season.
The Corn Dogs play at home Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and will host their first playoff game on Monday. Wednesday’s (August 3) game is a rain out.