Red Sox earn third straight win at home

"We're going to struggle with Lee's Summit. They'll be good." Nevada Red Sox head coach Jim Rayburn came into Tuesday night's game at Lyons Stadium against the Bulldogs of Lee's Summit, Mo., expecting a major challenge and his team more than rose to that challenge, beating the Bulldogs by a final score of 9-5 for their third consecutive home victory.

The Red Sox didn't take much time to get to Lee's Summit starter Austin Warren in the contest as leadoff hitter Austin Baldwin snuck a single past the outstretched glove of Bulldogs shortstop Drew Newman. Baldwin came around to score after just the next hitter as Colby Shepherd knocked a 1-1 pitch from Warren into the trees behind the left field fence to give the Red Sox an early lead.

Warren was able to get out of the inning with no further damage, but not before the Red Sox jumped out to an early 2-0 lead.

Baldwin took the mound for his second inning of work for the Red Sox with a two-run cushion to work with and was not able to continue to show the dominance he had in facing just one over the minimum in the first inning, but was still able to maintain the shutout. The Bulldogs did threaten in the inning, loading the bases with just one out, but Baldwin and his defense were quickly able to recover, shutting Lee's Summit down with no damage.

The Red Sox quickly started to add to that early lead in the second inning as Kohlten Wilson was able to come up with a two-out triple to the fence in right field that brought Ross Wolfe and courtesy runner Ethan Beisner around to score. Warren struck out the next batter to end the inning, but not before the Red Sox doubled their lead, taking a 4-0 advantage into the third inning.

Ron Johnson got the Red Sox on the board yet again in the home half of the third as he knocked on RBI single down the left field line that brought home Shepherd. The Red Sox ultimately turned that into their third consecutive two-run inning as Taylor Scotten came around to score on a throwing error by catcher Taylor Fraylick to extend their lead to 6-0 heading to the top of the fourth.

Baldwin continued his strong performance from the bump through the fourth inning, nearly putting the Bulldogs down in order. Fraylick was able to get to Baldwin with a two-out double to center in the frame, but was ultimately stranded at second, keeping Nevada's lead at 6-0.

The Red Sox nearly made it four two-run innings in a row as they got on the scoreboard yet again in the fourth inning. That didn't quite happen, however, as the Red Sox came out of the inning with just one more run on Wilson's third RBI of the game to take a 7-0 lead into the fifth inning.

The Bulldogs were finally able to find the scoreboard for the first time in the game in the top of the fifth as the bright sunshine allowed Julian Greene to rip a double past Scotten in left that brought home Nate Allgaier. Brian Nickle quickly followed with an RBI double of his own that allowed the Bulldogs to cut Nevada's lead to 7-2.

After Warren notched Lee's Summit's third consecutive hit, Baldwin was forced to give up the mound to Johnson with runners at the corners and just one out. Johnson and his defense struggled through the remainder of the inning, allowing three more runs to put the Bulldogs right back in the game, down by just two runs at 7-5 heading into the home half of the frame.

The Red Sox put up the final two runs of the game for either team in the bottom of the sixth inning as they were able to take advantage of a costly error by the Bulldogs as well as two hits of their own and a hit batter to take a four-run lead. Jerrod Alexander took over the mound to close out the game and was able to shut the Bulldogs down quickly, earning the Red Sox another strong victory at home by a final score of 9-5.

The Red Sox will hope to add yet another victory to their record and push their home winning streak to four games as they host Carl Junction this evening at Lyons Stadium. Game one of the doubleheader is set to begin at 6 p.m.