712.277.WINS (9467)

Lincoln, NE - The Sioux City Explorers used a big rally, dominant pitching and timely defense to beat the Lincoln Saltdogs 6-0 and get their second win on the young season. 

Explorers starter James Dykstra picked up the win tonight by tossing six shut out innings, allowing only four hits and collecting four strikeouts. The bullpen for the Explorers was equally as good as Parker Markel pitched a scoreless seventh and Tyler Fallwell capped off the night by shutting down the Saltdogs in the eighth and ninth innings. 

Tyler Herron was the starter for the Saltdogs tonight. He went five and one-thirds innings allowing seven hits and six runs to score. He struck out four and only walked one. He was in control through the first four innings, even retiring the first eight Explorers that he faced in the game. 

But the wheels came off in the fifth inning when Sioux City rallied for five runs. Jay Baum lead off the inning with a walk, and then went first to third on a base hit by Dexture McCall. Dylan Kelly drove Baum home with a base hit of his own in which McCall ended up going first to third. Daniel Jackson drove McCall home with a base hit to right field that got under the glove of Lincoln right fielder Angel Reyes and allowed Kelly and Jackson to move up to second and third. Kelly would then score on a Luis Durango ground out to the second baseman and Jackson scored on a Michael Lang base hit that made it 4-0. Lang stole second for his first of the season. Lang then scored when Jay Austin drove him home with a base hit to put them up 5-0. 

Nelson Ward lead off the sixth with a solo home run over the right field wall, his first of the season and what ended up being the only extra base hit in the game for the X’s. 

The Explorers defense turned a total of five double plays in the game, with two of them being inning ending twin killings. That broke a a Saltdogs franchise record of hitting into four double plays in a single game and was one shy of tying the league mark set by Kansas City when they turned six double plays on May 26, 2014. 

With the win the Explorers improve to 2-0 on the year and the Saltdogs fall to 0-2. Game three of the four game set will be played on Saturday night with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm, with Taylor Jordan as the projected starter for Sioux City and Austin Robichaux the projected starter for Lincoln.

Order your tickets for the 2018 home opener on Friday, May 25^th by stopping down to the stadium box office at Mercy Field at Lewis & Clark Park, online at www.xsbaseball.com, or by calling 712-277-WINS (9467).  Group rates available for groups of 20 or more for all (50) home games on the 2018 schedule!