LANSING – The Lansing Lugnuts and Beloit Snappers battled to a 1-1 tie through eight innings Tuesday afternoon at Oldsmobile Park. However it was the visitors who were able to open a hefty lead with a ninth inning rally that allowed them to take a 6-2 win before 7,883 fans of mostly school children on Grand Slam School Day.

With the score tied, Beloit's Chris Parmelee was able to reach second on a two-base error by Lansing's Manny Rodriguez. Ramon Santana then dropped a bunt single to put runners at the corners for the Snappers. Steve Singleton drove home Parmelee with a single to left that put Beloit up 2-1.

After Daniel Lehmann laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up, Jair Fernandez laced a double down the left field line that plated both Santana and Singleton to push the lead to 4-1. Mark Dolenc added a two-run homer to cap the scoring at 6-1.

The two teams started the game by trading runs in the first inning. Beloit went ahead when Ben Revere doubled and later scored on a Garrett Olson groundout to make it 1-0.

Lansing answered right back though as Matt Liuzza's RBI double brought Justin Jackson home from first base to tie the game.

Neither team could do much after that until the ninth the pitchers took over.

Marc Rzepczynski made his first start for the Lugnuts and allowed just one run on two hits through
4 2/3 innings.

David Bromberg got the call for Beloit and tossed six innings of run baseball, but neither starter factored into the decision.

Instead Steven Hirschfeld (3-0) got the win for the Snappers after throwing the final three innings. He surrendered just one run in the ninth inning.

Brad Cuthbertson (0-1), who made his first appearance for Lansing Tuesday, took the loss by allowing all five runs in the ninth. Only one of the runs was earned.

Lansing (16-15) will take Wednesday off before returning to action Thursday night at Oldsmobile Park when they host the two-time defending league champion West Michigan Whitecaps. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Thursday. It will also be a Labatt Blue Light Thirsty Thursday, with beer and soda on-sale for $2.

AUDIO HIGHLIGHTS
1st: Matt Liuzza ties the game with a double.
9th: Dolenc's homer puts the game out of reach.