In a four-hour, twenty-two minute contest in game one of a doubleheader, the Fort Wayne TinCaps defeated the Dayton Dragons by the score of 3-1.
After scoring on a Casey McElroy sacrifice fly in the first inning, Fort Wayne (14-17) did not score again until Austin Hedges hit an RBI double in the top of the 16th inning. Corey Adamson added another RBI on a ground out to give Fort Wayne an insurance run.
The lone Dayton (12-19) run came across on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Juan Silva in the third inning. The two teams endured 12 scoreless frames from the third inning until the Fort Wayne runs in the 16th.
Jace Peterson went 5-8 in the win, as the TinCaps totaled 60 at bats on the evening and won their fourth game in a row. It was the longest game of the year for either Fort Wayne or Dayton. The TinCaps went 2-18 with runners in scoring position and stranded 15 runners on base. Dayton went 0-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight men on base.
James Needy (1-0) earned the win in relief, throwing a scoreless 14th, 15th and 16th innings. El'Hajj Muhammad (1-0) took the loss, also working the 14th, 15th and 16th.
Game two of the doubleheader, a scheduled seven-inning affair, is set to start at approximately 10:45 p.m.
The TinCaps return home to Parkview Field on Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. for the start of a three-game series with the South Bend Silver Hawks.
The scheduled starters are Adys Portillo for Fort Wayne and Jeff Shields for South Bend.
