Danville wins Central title

The Commercial-News, Danville, IL

July 5, 2010

BY CHAD DARE
CNHI

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In a winner-take-all contest at Hawkins Field in Nashville, the Danville Dans claimed the Prospect League’s Central Division first-half title with a 6-5 win over the Nashville Outlaws.

Danville right-hander Aaron Lambrix threw four shutout innings of relief to secure the win for the Dans and the title.

“Nashville had really solid approaches all weekend against our pitching and they were a very good fastball hitting team,’’ Danville manager Steve Bieser said. “Aaron came in and did a really good job of changing speeds and hitting his spots. He did a good job of keeping them off-balanced.’’

Lambrix, who is in his second season with the Dans, definitely earned his first save of this season as he got the Outlaws Ryan McCaulley to ground out to end the game with the tying run on third and winning run on first.

Bieser said he stuck with the right-hander from Abilene Christian for two reasons.

“We wanted to stretch him out to get him into the rotation and he was doing as well as any pitcher we put out there against them,’’ he said. “His changeup and breaking ball were the difference in the game.’’

Danville (15-12) rallied from a 4-1 deficit with three runs in the fifth to tie the game 4-4, and then the Dans scored two more in the sixth to take a 6-5 lead as they snapped their four-game losing streak.

“Our guys have done a good job all year of responding in situations like that,’’ Bieser said. “This group doesn’t get too high or too low. Even when we fell behind 4-1, I knew it was still early and these guys were going to battle back.’’

Cole Bieser delivered the game-winning hit for the Dans with a RBI single in the sixth, scoring Jake Huxtable.

While winning the first-half title assures Danville a spot in the postseason tournament, Bieser said there is still more to accomplish.

“We still want to win the second-half title and we’re still playing for home-field advantage,’’ he said. “The worst thing we could do is rest on our laurels.

“Our goal, as it has been all summer, is that we want to keep getting better all summer.’’