Railroaders drop four of six despite solid offense

OCONOMOWOC, WI – The Cleburne Railroaders (19-16) played a six-game series on the road last week taking on the Lake Country DockHounds (14-20) losing four of the six games. Cleburne's offense continued to stay strong however it's the pitching staff that struggled in this series. Lake Country outscored Cleburne 44-36.

Great hitting from Jaxx Groshans and Shed Long kept Cleburne in some of these games with notable games by both players. Groshans had eight hits in the series, getting a hit in every game last week and has reached base safely in nine straight games. Long also recorded eight hits, with two-three hit games in the series. Long is batting .292 in 33 games this season.

Hill Alexander had a great series offensively, going 10-for-21 with eight RBI's, recording a hit in the five games he played, including four multi-hit games. Alexander is batting .297 with five home runs and 21 RBI's on the year.

A four hit game by Thomas Dillard on Sunday afternoon wasn't enough for Cleburne to pull out the win as they fell 11-7 to Lake Country. Dillard finished the series going 7-for-21 and is batting .246 in 35 games this season.

League leader in home runs and RBI's, Brian O'Grady got six hits last week with one home run and two RBI's. O'Grady has 13 home runs and 41 RBI's.

Despite the productive offense last week, Cleburne's pitching staff didn't fair too well in this series. Just one starter, Jacques Pucheu (4-1), was able to get credited with a win. Pucheu pitched in Saturday's 10-6 win going six innings giving up just one run off two hits. Cleburne has won four straight when Pucheu has been the starter.

Kyle Johnston (1-3) started twice this week in Tuesday's 11-3 loss and Sunday's 11-7 loss. Johnston pitched 9 2/3 innings giving up 10 earned runs off 15 hits. Johnston did strike out nine batters and now has 28 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched this season.

Johnathon Tripp (2-0) started for Cleburne in the 7-6 loss on Friday giving up five earned runs off 10 hits in five innings. Tripp has a respectable 4.83 ERA in seven games for Cleburne so far this year.

RHP Brady Schanuel was added to the Cleburne bullpen this week via trade with the Winnipeg Goldeyes. Before joining the American Association this season, Schanuel spent four seasons in the Brewers organization. Schanuel made just one appearance in this series, making his Cleburne debut on Sunday lasting just 2/3 of an inning and giving up two earned runs off three hits.

Chris Muller made three relief appearances for Cleburne last week giving up three earned runs in 4 1/3 innings while striking out four batters. Muller has a 3.32 ERA in 21 2/3 innings pitched this season.

The club now returns home to La Moderna Field to start a six-game series against the Milwaukee Milkmen (18-15). Milwaukee is coming off a road series against Gary SouthShore where they split the six-game series. Both Cleburne and Milwaukee are tied for second place in the East Division, just a game back of the first place Kane County Cougars.