Ohl Tosses Six Scoreless, Kernels Beat Cubs for Third Straight Night, 3-0
South Bend, IN -Coming out of the bullpen for the first time this season, Pierson Ohl had his best outing of the year, striking out nine across six scoreless frames, as Cedar Rapids wins its third straight at Four Winds Field, 3-0. Macro Raya made his third start of the
South Bend, IN -Coming out of the bullpen for the first time this season, Pierson Ohl had his best outing of the year, striking out nine across six scoreless frames, as Cedar Rapids wins its third straight at Four Winds Field, 3-0.
Macro Raya made his third start of the season for the Kernels. The right-hander went three scoreless innings to begin the night for Cedar Rapids, allowing just two hits while picking up three strikeouts.
With the Cubs' bats tied down in the first three innings, Cedar Rapids hopped on the board first in the top of the third without a hit. Kyler Fedko led off the inning by reaching second base on an error. Then after two outs, back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Tanner Schobel, who took ball four, pushing a run across the plate to give the Kernels a 1-0 lead.
After three frames, with the Kernels leading 1-0, Raya was lifted for Ohl, who made his first outing of the season out of the bullpen Friday night. It took the right-hander just 19 batters faced to produce the final 18 outs of the contest and for Ohl to grab his second victory of the season.
The Cedar Rapids offense added to the lead in the top of the fifth inning. After a single and two walks, the bases were again loaded for Schobel, who this time lifted a ball to right field, good for a sacrifice fly to give the Kernels a 2-0 advantage.
In the sixth, the lead jumped to 3-0 when again Cedar Rapids loaded the bases, this time courtesy of a Willie Joe Garry Jr. double followed by a hit-by-pitch and a walk. With the bags full, Ben Ross dropped in a single to push the advantage to three.
In the bottom half of the sixth, Ohl allowed a one-out double to Jacob Wetzel, but that would be the last Cub to reach base. Ohl retired the last ten batters he faced to guide the Kernels to the 3-0 victory.
The win is the second shutout victory of the season for Cedar Rapids, as the club improves back to .500 at 12-12, while the Cubs drop to 14-11. The Kernels have a chance to win the series and their fourth straight tomorrow afternoon at 3:05. Jaylen Nowlin starts for Cedar Rapids against South Bend’s Richard Gallardo.