LINCOLN, NE – The Saltdogs opened up the home schedule on Thursday night and impressed on both sides of the ball to secure. A6-1 win over the Cleburne Railroaders.
RHP Zach Keenan got his second start of the season and picked up right where he left off. After giving up a solo home run in the top of the first Keenan retired 17 of the next 18 batters he faced and went 1-2-3 in five consecutive innings.
OF Nick Anderson broke out at the plate recording his first two hits of the year, a single in the third and then a solo homer in the 7th over the fence in left.
INFs Drew Devine and Dakota Conners both had multi-hit efforts, Devine with an infield single and a double, and Conners with three singles. Both of them came around to score runs.
OF Aaron Takacs also continued swinging a hot bat with yet another RBI base hit, which would be one of two hits for him on the night.
The Saltdogs bullpen put together a good night as well using three arms. LHP David Zoz relieved his college roommate Keenan and went one inning giving up just one hit. RHP Brandon McCabe had a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th in his Haymarket Park debut, and RHP Dan Kubiuk shut the door in the ninth striking out one batter.
Lincoln snaps a streak of back-to-back losses and gets back to being over .500. They also continue a trend of success against Cleburne as they went 4-2 versus the Railroaders in 2023.
Game two of the four-game set is set for 7:05 p.m. tomorrow night for the first “Fireworks Friday” of the season.
Catch every Saltdogs game home and away on KFOR FM 101.5/1240 AM or for free streaming on aabaseball.tv, new for the 2024 season.