Ryan Fox blasted two home runs and drove in five for the Kansas City T-Bones (39-21) Tuesday night as they evened their four-game series with the Lake County Fielders (24-34) at one game apiece with an 8-5 win in Zion, IL.

Kansas City opened the scoring against John Brownell (2-5) in the second inning with a three-run frame, plating all three on Fox’s first home run of the contest.  Lake County answered quickly off Cody McAllister (8-3) in the bottom of the inning, scoring their first run on an RBI triple by Kyle Higgins.  Higgins made it a 3-2 game when he scored on an RBI groundout by Anthony Esquer.

A sacrifice fly from Fox pushed the score to 4-2 in the third before Lake County responded again, tying the game at four with RBI doubles from Brian McFall and Adam Hale in their half of the inning.  Kansas City regained the lead in the fourth, chasing Brownell with a one-out RBI single from Jacob Blackwood.  Jim Fasano gave the T-Bones a 6-4 lead later in the frame with his own RBI single, pushing his current hit streak to 17 games in the process.

Brownell was charged with six runs on seven hits over three and one-thirds innings in the loss.

Ryan Fox pushed the score to 7-4 in the fifth with his second home run of the game, this time off reliever Alex Smith.  Jimmy Mojica added a solo shot off Alec Lewis for an 8-4 score in the eighth.  Fox finished the contest two-for-four while becoming the ninth T-Bones player to hit multiple home runs in a game this season, and third to drive in five runs.  It was the third two-home run performance by Fox this season.

McAllister shut down the Fielders for the remainder of his outing, allowing just one more baserunner over his final four frames.  The right-hander allowed four runs on six hits over seven innings for his eighth win of the season, tying a career high he set during the 2009 campaign.  He is now tied with teammate Andrew Cruse and Fargo-Moorhead’s Casey Hoorelbeke for the Northern League lead in that category.

Kevin Light surrendered a solo home run to Joshua Short to start the eighth and cap the score at 8-5.  Light closed out the inning without another blemish, striking out the final two batters in the frame.  Erik Hamren struck out two of the three batters he faced in a perfect ninth to pick up his second save of the year.

Kansas City sends University of Kansas product Ryan Knippschild (7-4, 4.38) to the mound tomorrow afternoon to face Garry Bakker (3-6, 5.10) and the Fielders in a matinee contest.  First pitch is set for noon.  Catch all the action online at www.tbonesbaseball.com or on the radio at KXTR 1660 AM.