On a hot steamy morning at Waterfront Park the Thunder used the long ball to defeat the Curve 7-3 on a early 10:35 am start on education day and with many members of the National Guard in attendance.

The scoring started early in the first inning as the Curve scored a run in the top of 1^st inning when Jordy Mercer drove in a run with a bloop single to right field. The Thunder responded in the bottom of the inning when Ray Kruml and Jose Pirela led off with base hits leaving runners at the corners with no outs.

Bradley Suttle popped up to short right field scoring Kruml and tying the score at one each after the first inning. There was no more scoring until the top of the fourth inning. Then the Curve scored a run on a ground out deep to second base.

In the fifth inning the Thunder responded with a run when Jose Gil legging out a infield hit and advancing to second on a throwing error. After a fielders choice by Deangelo Mack moving Gil to third Addison Maruszak moved Gil home with a sacrifice fly to tie the score at two apiece.

In the sixth inning the Thunder padded their lead with a Jose Pirela base hit then stealing second, Austin Romine then laced a ball over the left fielder’s head scoring Pirela. Bradley Suttle singled and Cody Johnson hit a 3-run bomb to right center to give the Thunder a 6-2 lead.

The Curve answered in the seventh inning with another run on a Matt Curry RBI single to left field. The Thunder answered in the bottom of the inning with a Kruml triple and a Pirela RBI Single to make the score 7-3 in favor of the Thunder.

Thunder Pitcher Manny Banuelos pitched six strong innings allowing two runs in the game but as Manny’s luck has been going this season did not factor in the decision.

Thunder Claps

The Thunder started this last road trip with a 6-12 road record and returned with a 13-13 road record.

The Thunder finish the rubber match of the series tonite at 7:05 pm at Waterfront Park.