Fish even on the road, improve to 10-12 on the season

The Winnipeg Goldeyes improved to 10-12 over their six road games this past week.

The three-games series against the Kane County Cougars started off promising on Wednesday as the clubs split the doubleheader.

The Fish opened the scoring in the top of the fourth inning off Jake Guenther’s two-run single that brought Max Murphy and Jacob Robson to home plate. While the Cougars responded in the bottom of the inning, the Goldeyes would retake the lead in the seventh when Ramon Bramasco brought home Andy Armstrong on a single and held on to win 3-2.

Winnipeg once again opened the scoring in game two, this time in the top of the second, before Kane County’s four runs in the fourth inning gave the Cougars the lead. While the Goldeyes would chip away at the lead, the game ended 8-5 for the home side.

It was the final game on Thursday that ended in a heartbreaker for the Fish. The first nine innings were scoreless between the two clubs, with the Fish opening the scoring in the top of the tenth when Tanner O’Tremba ran home on a throwing error by the Cougars’ catcher.

In the bottom of the extra inning, the Goldeyes thought they had won the game when Evan Alexander made a play on a Kane County fly ball with two out. The ball would pop out of Alexander’s glove and, one pitch later, the Cougars would score two runs to win the game, and the series, 2-1.

The Fish fared better in their road series against the Lake Country DockHounds, taking the last two games to win the series.

While the Goldeyes dropped their first game of the series on Friday 5-1 — Robson bringing home Murphy on a base hit in the fifth to tie the game 1-1 before the DockHounds scored four unanswered runs for the win — they put up a dominating 7-2 victory on Saturday.

The DockHounds opened the scoring once again in the bottom of the first before the Fish knotted up the total with a Bramasco single that brought home Alexander.

Winnipeg would have a monster fifth inning, starting with Guenther drawing a walk with bases loaded, bringing Gustavo Sosa to home plate. Three pitches later, Murphy hit a team-leading fourth home run of the early season. The outfielder’s grand slam gave the Fish a commanding 6-1 lead.

Lake Country and Winnipeg added to their scores in the bottom of the seventh and top of the eighth, respectively, this time Robson scoring a solo home run.

The DockHounds once again opened the scoring in the bottom of the first in the series finale on Sunday, before adding another run in the bottom of the third. But the Goldeyes punched back in the top of the fifth, taking a 3-2 lead. Murphy brought home Ray-Patrick Didder and Kevin Garcia on a double before Sosa brought in Murphy on a triple.

Lake Country would tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, but the Fish added to their lead in the top of the ninth, with O’Tremba bringing Didder to home plate. The Goldeyes’ closing pitcher and Toronto native Trevor Brigden stood tall in the bottom of the final inning as Winnipeg held onto their lead for the 4-3 win.

The Fish return to Blue Cross Park in a six-game homestand starting Tuesday, first hosting the Kane County Cougars before taking on the Kansas City Monarchs in the weekend series.