Kernels beat Burlington, advance to division finals

BURLINGTON – The rest of this season for the Cedar Rapids Kernels might be all about Roady.

Ron Plein is the club's longtime equipment manager and lives in a room during the summer that was especially constructed for him at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Back in the day, he dressed in full uniform for every game, home and away, and fervently chased down foul balls with the best of them.

That earned him the nickname 'Roadrunner,” or 'Roady,” for short. The old boy has slowed down quite a bit in recent years, but resurfaced Friday night at Community Field in the deciding Game 3 of this Midwest League playoff series.

He was pulled out of the crowd, given a hard helmet, pitcher Mat Batts' number 46 jersey top and served as his favorite team's emergency bat boy. The Kernels scored twice in the eighth inning for a 4-2 win over the Burlington Bees.

Baseball being probably the most superstitious of all the sports means Roady has to be in uniform again Saturday night at Memorial Stadium for Game 1 of the Western Division finals against Kane County. Right?

'Roady got called into action tonight,” Kernels Manager Jake Mauer said with a smile. 'I just told him ‘You can't go get the foul balls, though. You've got to stay put.' That was killing him.”

Hometown boy Chad Christensen's infield hit off the glove of losing pitcher Brian Loconsole plated Jonatan Hinojosa with the go-ahead run, then Max Murphy followed with an RBI double. Relievers Dallas Gallant and Jake Reed finished it off, and that was that – the bid for Cedar Rapids' first MWL championship in 20 years is still alive.

Opening pitch Saturday night is 6:35. The series shifts to suburban Chicago for Games 2 and 3 (if needed) Sunday and Monday.

'We're just going out every day and having fun,” Gallant said. 'Not putting any pressure on ourselves. You play 140 (regular-season) games, but you get a playoff atmosphere, and it completely changes everything.”

'We pitched well in all three games and just kept battling,” Mauer said. 'Kept battling and kept battling. You know, you get into playoff baseball, you are going to see everybody's best. Their best pitchers, their best lineup, everything. Every run is very important.”

The Kernels scored a pair of runs in the third inning, including a Christensen solo home run, only to have Burlington tie it in the bottom half. Starting pitcher Stephen Gonsalves pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam to keep it 2-2, too.

Cedar Rapids didn't get another hit until the eighth, when Hinojosa singled to center with one away. Logan Wade, who had the winning eighth-inning solo home run in Thursday's Game 2, blooped a double down the left-field line to put runners and second and third, then Christensen (facing an 0-2 hole) slapped a Loconsole slider back toward the middle.

It deflected off the pitcher's glove and rolled slowly toward second base for a hit.

'With a runner on third, I'm just trying to put the first strike I see in play,” Christensen said. 'Try and drive that run in. Even with two strikes, it's the same thing. Let the ball get to you, put the ball in play. He got a glove on it, but it worked out for us.”

Burlington appeared to have the tying swing from Kernels killer Eric Aguilera in the bottom of the inning. With a man on and one out, he crushed a Gallant pitch to right-center, but the heavy moist air somehow kept it in the ballpark, with center fielder Max Murphy catching it on the warning track.

'Got the ball back after Murph tracked it down, and I was looking for a flat spot on it,” Gallant said. 'He didn't miss it.”

Cedar Rapids will send right-hander Ryan Eades to the mound to start Saturday night's game. It also will receive a pair of players from Rookie-level Elizabethton to help out in outfielder Tanner English and pitcher John Curtiss.

All-star catcher Mitch Garver, who suffered a concussion in Game 1, will go on the disabled list, as will starting pitcher Lewis Thorpe (elbow).

'Another great pitching outing by Steve giving us a chance. The guys out of the pen as well.,” Christensen said. 'Now we'll get home and get ready for Kane County.”

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