The Lake Country DockHounds stumbled in the ninth as they lost 5-2 Sunday against the Lincoln Saltdogs in Wisconsin Brewing Company Park.
With the game tied at 1-1, Josh Altmann hit a frozen rope over the left field wall for his eleventh home run. After Altmann’s swing propelled Lake Country to a brief 2-1 lead, it gave the DockHounds the spark they needed.
After rounding the bases, an entourage of DockHounds were ready to meet and celebrate the feat with one of their captains. After chest bumping Blake Tiberi, elbow crossing with Ryan Hernandez and being embraced by pitching coach Paul Wagner, the morale was high.
Entering the ninth, the DockHounds turned to closer Alexis Rivero to end the short homestand. However, after struggling to find the strike zone against the first batter, it foreshadowed how the remainder of the outing would unfold.
Rivero struggled to find the strike zone and walked three batters to load the bases with one out. After falling behind the next batter 3-1, Rivero pumped a 92 mph fastball over the plate that wasn’t missed. Alex Baeza turned the pitch around for a grand slam well over the right-field scoreboard. Baeza finished the day 4-4 with two runs and four RBIs, plaguing Lake Country all day.
With the DockHounds dropping the series, a crucial road trip against the Cleburne Railroaders lies ahead.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Alan Carter said. “When we play the teams atop the division, we run through them. But when we play teams that aren’t, we fumble around. I guess that’s just baseball.
We are too good not to be winning these games.”
The DockHounds will now travel to Cleburne to begin the road trip. After an off-day to clear their heads, Lake Country will play the Railroaders at 7:06 p.m. Tuesday in La Moderna Field.
Written by: Noah Douglas
