By Andrew Mild

A team should never take another team very lightly. Even if they are last in the league losing five straight and winning just one of their last 10. This was the American Giants, but they are a scrappy team that has a lot of speed, and some pretty good pitchers. Despite their efforts and their grit, the Corn Dogs were able to squeak one past Chicago 5-4.

Check out the box score on Pointstreak.

The American Giants scored first on an infield single, but with Mike Gladden on the move from second he was able to keep his momentum and score to make it 1-0. Starting pitcher AJ White pitched great through the first three innings where he struck out five through the first two.

In the fourth inning the Corn Dogs bats rallied as Gavin Terry and Bret Matthys each had two-RBI singles and gave the Corn Dogs a 4-1 lead. Both Terry and Matthys each had two hits and two RBI’s in the game.

The fifth inning saw the Dogs tack on one run from a Nicholas Johnstone single that sent Hayden Matulich home and put the score at 5-1 going to the sixth.

Chicago didn’t just roll over after the five unanswered runs from the Corn Dogs. Gino Gazzillo hit his first long ball of the year to make it 5-2. Then, without putting the ball in play, Chicago scored two runs from stolen bases, an error and a wild pitch. The score was 5-4 going into the ninth.

Manager Justin Huisman turned to Dylan Matusak to close the game, and he didn’t disappoint. Matusak struck out two hitters and had a fly out to center to end the game and put the Corn Dogs up to 22 wins in 30 games this season.

The pitching from starter Conor Pangburn was excellent. Pangburn went five innings where he allowed just one run and struck out 11 hitters. The fourth inning saw the starter strikeout four hitters in one inning due to a drop third strikeout. Pangburn now is 4-0 with a 0.42 ERA and has  37 strikeouts in just 21 innings.

The Macron Player of the Game was Bret Matthys, this time as a hitter. Matthys now becomes the first player in Corn Dogs history to win player of the game as both a hitter and a pitcher as he won on Friday, July 1 against the Oilmen for his relief appearance. He went 2-3 with a walk and two RBI’s in the game. His batting average has climbed to a solid .328 and has a OBP of .453.

The Corn Dogs are 22-8 now and have two more games before the All-Star break.

Thursday’s game is at home against the 13-17 Crestwood Panthers. The first pitch will be delivered at 7 p.m.. You can purchase tickets either online at https://corndogsbaseball.com/tickets/ or you can purchase them at the game.

Photo caption: Connor Pangburn, on the mound for the Corn Dogs, allowed just one run in five innings and struck out 11 hitters.

Photo by Josh Brunette