08/05/2004 9:59 AM - KANSAS CITY – Cody Nowlin drove in the winning run with a one-out, two-run triple into the corner in left field as the T-Bones enjoyed their first last at-bat victory of the year in a 8-7 come-from-behind win over Joliet Thursday night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. For Kansas City (13-8, 33-36), it was the team’s eighth consecutive win; a franchise record.

Ray Brown led off the ninth inning with a single off JackHammer closer Robert Garvin (1-2) and moved to second on a one-out flare to center field by Mike Brown to set the stage for Nowlin. Nowlin responded by lifting a 1-1 offering past Joliet left fielder Matt McCay, who dove for the ball, to win the game. Derek Forbes (2-1) pitched the final 2.1 innings in relief of starter Matt McClellan to pick up the win.

McClellan allowed just three hits through six innings, but all three left the yard. McCay hit a two-out home run to left field in the second inning to give Joliet a 1-0 lead and Firlit made it 3-0 in the following inning with a two-run shot into the visitor’s bullpen in left-center field. The T-Bones battled back with four runs in the third, highlighted by Eddie Pearson’s Northern League-leading 18th homer of the season – a three-run shot to right field and Rick Prieto made it 5-3 with an RBI single in the fourth.

Gabby Delgado cut the lead to one run with a solo shot off McClellan in the fifth before Joliet regained the lead with three runs in the seven – capped off by Firlit’s second home of the contest. Ray Brown pulled the T-Bones to within one run with an RBI-double to center in the eighth that made it 7-6 before Kansas City’s first ninth-inning rally of the season.

Game Notes: Prieto went 2-for-5 Thursday night to extend his hitting streak to 15 games; the longest by any T-Bones player in the two-year history of the franchise and two shy of matching the Northern League’s longest streak of the season… Three former Negro League stars were on-hand as part of Negro Leagues Retro Jersey night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Ulysses Holliman, who played for three teams from 1945 to 1955, Jesse Rogers, a member of the Kansas City Monarchs, DeMorris Smith, son of Negro League star Hilton Smith, and Buck O’Neil, the legendary star of the Monarchs and chairman of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, each threw out a first pitch before Thursday night’s game... Kansas City is 1-25 in games when trailing entering the ninth inning.

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