By Noel Fary

The Lake County Corn Dogs began a string of away games following the All-Star break, dropping a game to the Southland Vikings on Thursday, but got their first win at Oil City stadium this season on Friday.

Following the first loss of the season to the Vikings at home on Sunday, the Corn Dogs traveled to Dowling Park with a chance for payback. Adam Walters started on the mound for the Corn Dogs and put up two scoreless innings.

The Corn Dogs offense jumped on the Vikings early, scoring four runs against Nolan Vlcek in the first inning. Headed into the bottom of the fourth, the Corn Dogs sat with a comfortable 5-1 lead, but the Vikings offensive explosion flipped the script, putting them up 8-5.

Harrison Dubois took the mound and dominated the Vikings, allowing just one hit and no runs in the final three innings of the game. His offense backed him up as well, putting the game within one in the top of the seventh after a Doug Loden double. But they could not get that last run and lost 8-7.

Check out the box score from the game.

Corn Dogs Respond, Take it to the Oilmen

Following the loss, the Corn Dogs sat in danger of losing the top seed in the Northern League to the Oilmen — and potentially losing three games in a row for the first time in franchise history. A victory this time at Oil City Stadium was more than necessary.

Loden received the start for the Corn Dogs, coming into the game with a 0.0 ERA in his short tenure as a pitcher this season. The Oilmen quickly changed that taking the lead in the bottom of the first, scoring off a fielder’s choice.

The Corn Dogs wasted no time taking the lead right back in the top of the second, 2-1, off four hits from some of their best bats. The Oilmen tied up the game in the bottom of the third off an error and a wild pitch, taking full advantage of some Corn Dogs miscues. With the score 3-3 headed into top of the third, the Corn Dogs had to “mustard up,”

Taking advantage of some Oilmen miscues, the Corn Dogs scored three off great base running by Kevin Hall and Gavin Terry and another clutch single by Loden. With a 6-3 lead, the Corn Dogs looked to lean on their relievers to put this one away.

Jake Thometz came in with a three-run cushion and delivered a gem for the Corn Dogs, pitching three innings and allowing for just one hit, no runs or walks and striking out four.

In light of the Corn Dogs’ strong bullpen performance, a three-run lead was enough of a cushion to win the game. Nevertheless, they exploded for seven runs in the top of the eighth to put the game out of reach.

After working around their entire batting order and seeing a bases-clearing double from Tyler Schultz, the Corn Dogs sat comfortably with a 13-3 lead. Schultz finished the day 2-5 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs, earning himself Macron Player of the Game.

The Oilmen grabbed a lone run in the bottom of the eighth, but the Corn Dogs and earned first place with a 13-4 win in Whiting.

Check out the box score from the game.

Six Home Games Next Week

The road games continue on Saturday when the Corn Dogs travel to Griffith to take on the Generals at 7:10 p.m. and play the Vikings on Monday.

A stretch of six consecutive home games begins Tuesday, and that will put a wrap on the Corn Dogs’ home season.