The Kansas City T-Bones (41-47) erased a four-run deficit, but the Joliet JackHammers (31-57) prevailed with a 9-7 victory in front of 6,218 fans in the T-Bones regular-season home finale.

Joliet jumped out to a 2-0 lead against Chris Rhoads in the first inning on an RBI single by Freddie Thon and RBI groundout from Tim Alberts.  Kansas City quickly answered off Rory Shortell, scoring three times in the bottom of the frame on four hits and two errors to gain a 3-2 advantage.  Luis Terrero, Jim Fasano and Jacob Blackwood each collected RBI singles in the inning.

Thon drove in another run with a single in the third inning to tie the game before a three-run fourth gave Joliet a 6-3 lead.  Rhoads threw a perfect fifth but surrendered a leadoff home run to former teammate Eric Scriven before leaving the contest in the sixth.

Rhoads allowed seven runs on nine hits in five-plus innings for Kansas City.

Craig Hurba pulled the T-Bones within three with a home run to begin their half of the sixth.  Shortell finished the inning but left after surrendering a one-out walk in the seventh.  Reliever Chad Blackwell surrendered a two-out walk later in the frame before Fasano pushed the score to 7-6 with a two-run double.

Shortell was charged with five runs, three earned, on seven hits in six and one-thirds innings.  Neither starter factored into the decision.

Kansas City tied the game against Blackwell in the eighth on an RBI single by Aharon Eggleston.  The basehit pushed Eggleston’s home hit streak to 24 games.  Weston Curles finished the sixth inning for Rhoads and Daniel Sattler threw two shutout frames before Nate Cotton took over in the ninth.  After two quick outs, an infield single, an error and a walk loaded the bases to set up a two-run single by Christian Lopez that put Joliet in front, 9-7.

Cotton took the loss after allowing two unearned runs on two hits in an inning of work.  Blackwell allowed two runs on three hits over one and two-thirds innings in the victory.  Drew Shetrone threw a scoreless ninth to secure his fifth save of the season.

The T-Bones will finish the season on the road with four-game sets in Fargo and Joliet.  They begin their series against the RedHawks tomorrow night with first pitch set for 7:00.  Neither team has announced starters for the series.  To follow Kansas City as they make their push for the playoffs, tune into KXTR 1660 AM or click the listen live link on www.tbonesbaseball.com