Rosemont, Ill. — As the Lake Country DockHounds have done every time in July, a series opening loss was followed by an outstanding performance, as Lake Country pitched its second shutout of the week in an 11-0 demolition of the Chicago Dogs.
Luke Hansel grabbed his elusive first quality start by facing adversity and completing the first six innings while striking out three. It was his first pro start against a team he previously faced and his shortest amount of rest going into a DockHounds start. Still, he turned in arguably his best outing as a professional.
“I’ve been trying to learn and improve from each start,” Hansel said. “There’s always room to get better, and I trusted my stuff to get it done tonight.”
Shelby Lackey, Jake Cantleberry, and Blake Kunz all fired scoreless innings with at least one strikeout to follow Hansel and complete the shutout.
Early scoring opportunities were squandered by the DockHounds, stranding five runners in scoring position through three innings while bringing home only one run. However, the offense exploded in the fourth inning with two outs.
Thomas Jones walked to keep the half alive, then Blake Tiberi and Marek Chlup singled to make it 2-0. Josh Altmann, in his second game back to Impact Field where he called “home” last year, clubbed a two-strike, two-out, three-run home run. The DockHounds never looked back.
Curtis Terry homered in the next inning for his second straight day going yard, and the elite baserunning from Demetrius Sims led to another run in the fifth inning.
Ryan Hernandez then clubbed his league-leading 19th home run in the sixth inning before two more runs scored on walks later in the half.
“Our offense is so easy to pitch with,” Hansel said. “They are never cheated out of any at-bats, and they work hard so I get to go out and throw strikes.”
Lake Country can win the series over the Dogs in the rubber match Sunday with John Swanda eyeing his eighth win of the season with a 3:00 first pitch.
Catch all the action on AABaseball.TV
