07/31/2004 9:37 AM - KANSAS CITY – A three-base throwing error by Gary pitcher Bryan Shartzer in the seventh inning allowed Chris LePine to plate the go-ahead run in the T-Bones’ 9-4 win over the RailCats Saturday night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. For Kansas City (9-8, 29-36), it was the team’s fourth consecutive win of the season and its eighth victory in nine games against Gary in 2004.

Rick Prieto drove in the T-Bones’ final two runs in the eighth inning with a triple to the gap in right-center field. It was his eighth triple of the season and his fifth in the last five games. The veteran, who was 2-for-5 on the night, extended his season-high batting streak to 11 games and is batting .511 (24-for-27) during that time.

Not to be outdone, Eddie Pearson, who hit his Northern League-leading 16th home run in the sixth inning, reached base in all five plate appearances with two hits and a season-high three walks. Derek Forbes (1-1) picked up the win for the T-Bones in relief of starter Jonathan Krysa who allowed four runs – two earned – in six innings. John Howerton picked up his first save of the season. Shartzer (2-2) allowed five runs – four earned – in two innings out of the bullpen as Gary fell to 8-9 in the second half.

The T-Bones battled back from a couple of early deficits and tied the game in the sixth on Pearson’s two-run shot to right. LePine led off the seventh inning with a single to right field and scored the decisive run when Shartzer threw the ball wildly down the line in right field in an attempt to throw out Prieto, who laid down a sacrifice bunt. Ray Brown capped off the inning with an RBI-single to center that made the score 6-4.

Phil Thompson gave the T-Bones an early 1-0 lead in the fourth inning with a single through the left side of the infield to plate Pearson. But the RailCats came right back with a pair of runs in the following inning to take a 2-1 lead. Kansas City tied the game at 2-all in the home half when Prieto brought Hiroshi Fujimoto home with a ground out to second.

Game Notes: Pearson walked on four pitches three times Saturday night. He didn’t see a strike until the sixth inning when he took Gary starter Dan Soria’s first pitch over the fence for a home run. Pearson entered the game as the Northern League’s leader in home runs and RBI’s... Krysa entered play trailing Joliet’s Brian Mazone by just four strikeouts for the Northern League lead, fanned six batters Saturday night… Howerton’s save was his first of the season and his first as a professional.

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