06/09/2023 10:09 PM –
CROWN POINT, Ind. – The Lake County Corn Dogs became the first Northern League team to reach ten wins as they beat the Generals 8-1. Ryan Troxel led the way for the Corn Dogs with six innings of one-run ball on the mound.
The Corn Dogs offense strung together hits all night, scoring all eight of their runs in four consecutive innings. Gavin Terry, Scott Hansen, Shane Jones, and Danny Puplava all drove in two runs. Josh Ortiz got tagged for the Generals loss, giving up five runs on nine hits in five innings pitched.
The lone run of the night for the Generals was scored on an Aaron Orzech sacrifice fly in the sixth. He also reached base on two walks, ballooning his on-base percentage to .414. The only General with a higher mark on the season is Max Waszkiewicz, with a .444.
“I was seeing them well,” remarked Orzech on his performance. “I’ve been lining into hard luck, but I’m where I want to be.” Orzech isn’t the only General to hit into tough luck recently, as Billy Jones hit two line drives right to Corn Dog defenders tonight that could have easily been hits.
Coach Romsek reiterated his guys’ solid play in the last week, saying, “Our pitching and defense is continuing to be good over the last five games. We’re still striking out too much, though. Gotta be in play more. Taking too many fastballs for strikes. Just gotta find a way to make those adjustments offensively.”
After tonight’s loss, the Generals stand at a .166 team batting average through their first eight games. Bryce Vorwald is the only General with an average over .300, who is batting .313 in 16 at-bats. Only 19 of the 27 Generals runs have been batted in.
The Generals cross time zones tomorrow to take on the Elkhart County Miracle at 5 p.m. CST. “We’re gonna do our best to get there early and stretch out, get settled,” said Romsek when asked about the strategy for tomorrow’s contest. The game marks five of 13 in a row for Griffith.