Becker's walk-off lifts Iron Dukes in sweep of Chester

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[By Dan Zobel

With one out and runners on second and third in a tie game in the bottom of the seventh inning, Corey Becker came to the plate and lined the first pitch he saw into the outfield giving the Steeleville Iron Dukes the double-header sweep of the Chester River Rats on Saturday.

Becker, who had been hitless on the season up to this point, did not let the situation get to him and was instead able to deliver a huge hit for the Iron Dukes giving them the 5-4 walk-off victory in the second game of the double-header.

The Iron Dukes jumped on top of Chester early in the game by scoring two runs in the first inning on runs batted in by Eric Piel and Peter Zobel. Starting Iron Dukes pitcher Daniel Covert was able to cruise along, while not allowing a hit, until the fourth inning when he walked four straight batters with one out and was replaced by Kyle Wall on the mound. After Wall issued another walk the Iron Dukes were able to get out of the inning with the score tied.

Chester would then go on to take a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning, but the Iron Dukes were able to cut that lead to 4-3 when Ross Cook drove in Josh Diercks in the sixth inning setting up the seventh inning heroics that would follow.

Leading off the bottom of the seventh, Piel drew a walk and Covert drove him in with a double to deep right center to tie the game at four. Peter Zobel followed by drawing a walk and Danny Zobel put down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over to second and third, bringing up Becker.

Becker wasted no time and drove the first pitch he saw into left center, scoring Covert, and giving the Iron Dukes the walk-off victory over Chester and sending the Iron Dukes players and fans into a frenzy.

In the first game of the double-header against, the Iron Dukes were able to put on a solid offensive showing and ended up getting the win by a score of 9-4.

Already with a 2-1 lead in the second inning, the Iron Dukes put four runs on the board in the second inning to expand their lead to 6-1 thanks in part to a Wall home run and a couple of runs batted in by Cook.

Both teams then traded runs back and forth over the course of the rest of the game, but the Iron Dukes were able to hold on and beat Chester. Danny Zobel through 6 and a third effective innings and Wall was able to record the last two outs of the game.

In the double-header Covert went 5-8 with three doubles and three RBI's, Piel went 4-6 with a double and five runs scored, Wall hit a home run, Cook stole three bases and had three RBI's, Peter Zobel had a double and two RBI's, and Wall and Danny Zobel picked up wins for the Iron Dukes.

With the two wins the Iron Dukes improved to 2-3 on the young season and will look to improve on that in their upcoming games. For complete Iron Dukes statistics and an upcoming schedule visit www.leaguelineup.com/irondukes.