ROCKFORD, Il. — Former Major Leaguer Brad Halsey fired six three-hit, shutout innings and the Gary SouthShore RailCats picked up the clutch hits when they needed them to beat the Rockford RiverHawks, 3-1 Thursday night at Road Ranger Stadium.

Halsey (1-1) walked two and flirted with danger in a couple of innings, but the Texan always had the answer and earned his first Northern League win.  The left-hander stranded six Rockford runners in his outing – including three in scoring position – and kept his season ERA at a perfect 0.00.  In 11.0 innings this year, Halsey has surrendered only five hits and allowed just an unearned run in his first start Saturday at U. S. Steel Yard.

Rockford starter Kyle Ruwe (0-1) was as good as Halsey through the first five innings, however, and brought a no-hitter into the sixth.  After getting the first two in that inning, Adam Klein broke up the no-no with a ground-rule double to the right-center field gap and scored when Mike Massaro picked up his first RBI with a line drive single.

The RailCats picked up a second run in the seventh when Cristian Guerrero walked, went to second on a Jeff Beachum hit and scored after Tanner Townsend shot a single into right.  Guerrero and Beachum combined on the third RailCats run in the ninth as well, when Beachum drove Guerrero in with a two-out single off Jon Huizinga.

The ‘Cats bullpen followed Halsey’s start with scoreless innings from Jeff Williams and Brad Furnish before the RiverHawks tallied a run against Andy Shipman in the ninth.  Shipman still earned his second save, getting Kevin House to ground out representing the tying run to end the night.

Both teams had six hits in the game, with Beachum and Jake Eigsti each collecting a pair.  Guerrero scored two runs and stole his first base of the year to set up the ninth inning run.

The RailCats (3-5) five-game road trip rolls on to Schaumburg (1-6) Friday night at 6:45 p.m.  The Flyers will send right-hander Brett Harker (0-1, 11.12 ERA) to the mound against RailCats right-hander Zach McClellan (0-0, 0.00 ERA).  The game will be broadcast live on 89.1 FM, The Lakeshore, and online at www.railcatsbaseball.com.

Notes: The RailCats scored 15 runs in the four-game series despite only 24 hits … the run Shipman allowed in the ninth was his first this season in four outings … the run Shipman allowed was also the first given up by the RailCats bullpen in the last 11.1 innings.