By Dominic Stearn
Lincoln, Neb — Sunday was the latest comeback win of the season for the Lake Country DockHounds, trailing in the seventh inning. Two runs behind the Lincoln Saltdogs on Tuesday in the ninth inning, Lake Country had a chance to top the mark set just two days ago.
Marcus Chiu singled to lead off the ninth to bring Nick Banks up as the tying run, who worked a walk with a full count. Brian Rey, the hero on Sunday, singled home Chiu with one away to reach as the go-ahead run. Blake Tiberi reached for the third time of the night with a full count walk of his own to extend the game with two outs, pushing banks to third and Rey to second base.
That brought Thomas Jones, who had walked three times Tuesday, to the plate with the bases loaded. Ahead in a 3-1 count, Jones watched a pitch that just caught the top of the strike zone to run the count full. Lake Country was down to its final strike again, but also a pitch away from tying or taking the lead.
Jones let the full count pitch go on a borderline pitch, quite literally putting the game in the hands of home plate umpire Jeff Osborne. Strike three was called, and the game was over with Lake Country falling 4-3.
Mike Shawaryn now has four quality starts in five outings, going seven innings for the first time since 2019 while allowing three earned runs. Brady Kais followed with a 1-2-3 eighth inning to keep the DockHounds in the game.
The DockHounds made an appearance in the American Association’s power rankings Tuesday morning, slotting in the fifth spot. After falling in their first contest, Lake Country will look to back that ranking up by evening the series Wednesday. Wake up early to catch that one, with first pitch at 11:05 a.m. CT.
