Sioux City, IA – The Sioux City Explorers (12-15) completed a series sweep of the Lake Country DockHounds (10-18) Sunday evening, winning the finale 7-4. The X’s had a strong start from Austin Drury (1-0), and the bullpen closed it out with three scoreless innings.
The X’s offense got started early when Sioux City’s Daniel Montano hit an RBI double to center field off Lake Country’s Brady Puckett (0-3), sending home Nick Shumpert and giving the Explorers an early 1-0 lead.
The offense kept it going in the bottom of the second when Sioux City’s Zac Vooletich hit an RBI grounder off Lake Country’s Puckett, allowing Chase Harris to score and extending the lead to 2-0. Later in the inning, Sioux City’s Jake Ortega raced home on a wild pitch from Puckett, making it a 3-0 game.
In the bottom of the third, the offense continued rolling with a leadoff dinger from Sioux City’s Scott Ota off Lake Country’s Puckett, making it a 4-0 ball game.
The Explorers scored again in the bottom of the fourth when Sioux City’s Shumpert ripped a two-RBI double to right field off Puckett, waving home Chase Harris and Zac Vooletich, growing the X’s advantage to 6-0.
The DockHounds finally got on the board in the top of the sixth when Lake Country’s Marek Chlup sent a one-out homer over the wall off Sioux City’s Drury, ending the shutout and making it 6-1. The DockHounds rallied behind that with another run when Lake Country’s Demetrius Sims reached base on a two-out error from Sioux City’s Nick Shumpert, allowing Deivy Grullon to score and making it 6-2. After an ejection of Sioux City’s John Nogowski, Lake Country’s Justin Lavey followed with an RBI single to right off Sioux City’s Heitor Tokar, pushing home Cesar Izturis Jr. and making it 6-3. The DockHounds added one more in the frame when Josh Altmann picked up an RBI single, sending home Sims and cutting the deficit to just two runs.
Insurance was provided for the Explorers in the bottom of the sixth when Sioux City’s Ota collected his second RBI of the night on a single off Lake Country’s Matt Mullenbach, plating Vooletich and extending the X’s lead to 7-4.
The bullpen locked it down for the Explorers after that, starting with a perfect inning from Sioux City’s Brandon Brosher in the seventh. Sioux City’s Kade Mechals followed that with his own three up, three down, and after Explorer reliever Zach Willeman was pulled following just three pitches, Nate Gercken closed it down for the save (2)
The Explorers will be off on Monday June 10 but return to action on Tuesday June 11 to begin a three-game series against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks at 7:05 p.m.
