The July pattern of lose one, win one, continued Monday night for the Hoptown Hoppers. David Limbach’s three-run shot to right in the bottom of the 5th gave Paducah the lead for good as the Chiefs took a 6-3 home-field win.
The win extended the Chief’s lead over the Hoppers to five games. Paducah entered the night in a three-way tie with Madisonville and Henderson.
Paducah got on the board first in the bottom of the third when Ayden Terry drove in Colin McClure with a sac fly to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead.
Hoptown came right back and loaded the bases with one out on three singles in the top of the fourth. Ruben Ogando drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game at 1-1. Grant Snider then hit a sac fly to center to put the Hoppers up 2-1.
After Limbach’s homer put the Chiefs in front, Paducah added a run in the bottom of the 7th on an RBI single from Danny Rollins.
Kolby Webb gave the Hoppers some life in the 8th with an RBI single to cut the lead to two at 5-3. However, the Chiefs got that run right back in the bottom half of the inning.
Hoptown got a one-out single in the top of the 9th but got nothing beyond that as the Chiefs held on for the three-run win.
Webb finished the night 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored for the Hoppers. John Kiebler was also 2-4 and had two runs scored.
Other than the big home run, Brayden Eftink had a solid start for Hoptown. He went six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits. He struck out seven and walked only one.
