LINCOLN, Nebraska – LHP David Holmberg tossed seven scoreless innings and the ‘Dogs held on to win the series with a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Dogs at Haymarket Park on Thursday night.
Holmberg allowed just four singles with no walks with five strikeouts and improved to 5-0 with Lincoln (36-35) now 6-0 in Holmberg’s starts this season.
The ‘Dogs opened the scoring in the 1st inning on an RBI single from DH Yanio Perez, who extended his hitting streak to a season-best 10 games.
The game stayed 1-0 until the 6th when Lincoln added three runs. 2B Nate Samson doubled in two to make it 3-0 before scoring later in the inning when LF Aaron Takacs singled and Chicago LF Jesus Lujano bobbled the ball allowing Samson to score.
3B Will Kengor hit an RBI triple with two outs in the 7th inning extending Lincoln’s lead to 5-0.
RHP Matt Cronin came on in the 8th inning and allowed all three batters he faced to reach – with Lujano singling in a run to make it 5-1. LHP Steffon Moore came on with runners on the corners and nobody out, allowing a sacrifice fly but retiring all the batters he faced to keep Lincoln ahead 5-2.
RHP R.J. Freure then came on in the 9th. The Dogs (37-34) scored twice in the 9th on a sacrifice fly from PH Ben Livorsi and an RBI single from Lujano, but with two on and two out Freure struck out 2B Payton Eeles to end the game.
Lincoln finished the seven-game homestand 4-3 and won a series for the first time since taking three of four from Sioux City to start the second half of the season.
C Luke Roskam went 1-for-4 with a walk and now has a 37-game on-base streak, the longest active in the league right now.
Holmberg started twice on the homestand, allowing just one run on 10 hits with no walks and 11 strikeouts over 15 innings.
The ‘Dogs now hit the road for a six-game road trip beginning with three games against the Lake Country DockHounds in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. First pitch of the series opener is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. on Friday and pregame coverage begins at 6:05 on KFOR FM 101.5/1240 AM.
The Saltdogs are back in 2023! Single-game tickets for all games are on sale now. Reserve your seats now by calling 402-474-BALL (2255) or order on-line at Saltdogs.com.