The Kansas City T-Bones hammered out 20 hits en route to a 18-12 clubbing of the Calgary Vipers in front of 2860 fans at Foothills Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. After falling behind 7-1 early, the Vipers fought back to take a 8-7 lead after four innings but could not keep the T-Bones hitters at bay. The loss snaps a four game winning streak and with Winnipeg and Fargo-Moorhead playing tonight their lead is now two games in the North Division with seven games remaining.

 

The first run of the game was scored in the top of the first as Calvin Pickering picked up a two out RBI single to score Geoff McCallum.

 

Calgary responded with three in the bottom of the inning to take their first lead. Darryl Brinkley doubled, Drew Miller walked, and Carlos Duncan followed with an RBI double. Kyle Nichols, in his first at bat as a Viper, hit a sacrifice fly and Aaron McEachran capped off the inning with a RBI groundout to make the score 3-1.

 

The lead was very short lived though as in the second Kansas City scored six runs to take a 7-3 lead. Aaron Easley walked, Nelson Gord singled, McCallum cashed two with a single, Rob Watson double, and after a wild pitch to score a run and Mario Delgado getting hit by a pitch, Calgary starter Daivis Burguillos was pulled from the game. Randy Waite came in and also uncorked a wild pitch for another run, Pickering hit into a groundout for a RBI, and Neb Brown plated the sixth and final run with a base hit.

 

In the bottom of the third, after a Duncan walk, Nichols, in his second at bat, hammered his first homerun as a Snake to cut the lead down to 7-5.

 

An inning later in the fourth Calgary got a leadoff bunt single from Jorge Tang. Brinkley and Miller followed reaching on errors to score Tang. Duncan followed picking up a RBI single to tie the game at seven and Nichols got his fourth RBI of the night on a groundout to give the Vipers their second lead at 8-7.

 

Back came Kansas City though scoring three runs in the fifth. Brown walked and Austin Easley singled to start off the inning and that chased Waite from the game. Ryan Klatt came in and gave up an RBI single to Aharon Eggleston, sacrifice fly to McCallum, and another RBI hit to Rob Watson to score three runs and give the T-Bones back the lead at 10-8.

 

Five more runs were added in the sixth to give Kansas City a 15-8 lead. Brown walked on 12 pitches, Easley doubled for a RBI, Gord was hit by pitch, Eggleston scored two with a double, and Watson singled in a run to chase Klatt. Phil Sobkow was the fourth pitcher to come into the game and gave up a RBI knock to Al Benjamin to cap the five run inning.

 

The Snakes responded with three in the bottom of the inning. Manabu Kuramochi tripled, Brinkley singled him home for his league leading 43rd run batted in, and Duncan drove home two with a single to make the score 15-11.

 

Two runs were added by Kansas City in the seventh when Eggleston and Watson drove home runs to give the T-Bones another six run lead at 17-11.

 

Miller hit his second homerun of the season in the eighth to finish the scoring for Calgary.

 

In the ninth catcher Kevin Price made his pitching debut and gave up a RBI single to Watson for the final run of the game.

 

Brinkley was named June Northern League Player of the Month and started off July going three for six with three runs scored and a RBI. In June Brinkley hit .453 in 26 games while driving in and scoring 25 runs. He also slugged five homeruns an walked 16 times for .670 slugging and .525 on bases percentages. Duncan went three-for-four with two runs and four batted in, while Miller scored four runs.