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Sioux City Wins Seven In a Row For Second Time in Season

Sioux City, IA - The Explorers win their seventh game in a row and finish off a sweep of the Gary SouthShore RailCats on Friday night with a 3-2 victory. 

It was a pitchers duel early on between the two clubs as Eric Karch and Trevor Lubking traded scoreless innings for the first five frames but Gary would be the first team to strike on the scoreboard. 

A lead off double from MJ Rookard started the sixth, a ground out advanced him to third and Tom Walraven would bring him home with a single to center field to put the RailCats up 1-0. 

But the X’s responded immediately in the bottom half of the sixth. A walk from Justin Felix was followed by a double by Michael Lang to put runners at second and third with just one out. Nate Samson then hit a ball to left field which was playable for the RailCats left fielder Ray Jones but he would trip over his own feet allowing the ball to fall and roll all the way to the wall. Two runs would score on the triple by Samson and give the X’s a 2-1 lead. Jose Sermo then popped up to shallow centerfield where four RailCats converged but no one was able to make the play allowing Samson to score and the X’s took a 3-1 lead. 

Gary made a comeback bid in the eighth as Alex Crosby lead off the frame with a base hit and Rookard hit his second double of the night to put the tying run into scoring position. A sacrifice fly to right scored Crosby to make it 3-2 and advanced Rookard to third. Two walks followed that to load the bases with one out. But Nate Gercken and the X’s were able to wiggle out of the inning after a line drive to short was caught by Samson and he was able to double off the runner at second to keep the X’s in the lead. 

It kept the X’s the lead and helped Eric Karch hold on to his third straight win. Karch (3-4) tossed seven strong innings allowing only one run on six hits, with three strikeouts and only one walk. He tossed three perfect innings in this one and after not recording a win in his first ten starts this season he has rattled off three in a row. 

Trevor Lubking was the tough luck loser for the RailCats. Lubking (5-6) allowed only three base runners in the first five innings before the whacky sixth where the X’s scored three times. He ended up throwing six innings, allowing three runs on five hits walking two and striking out four. 

Matt Pobereyko was called upon for the save in the ninth and breezed through another one, two, three inning. In his last now five save chances he has converted all five and opponents are a combined 0-15 against him with five strikeouts. 

Sioux City has now won seven games in a row for the second time this season and have gone on a winning streak of at least seven games for the 15th time in franchise history. 

The X’s look to continue the hot streak when they welcome the Texas Airhogs to town for a three game series beginning on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 pm.