WINNIPEG, Manitoba 8-11-2010 – The Gary SouthShore RailCats got six shutout innings from Andy Weeks and pounded out double-digit hits for the fifth straight game to down the Winnipeg Goldeyes 8-1 Wednesday night at Canwest Park, the RailCats sixth consecutive victory.

Now on their longest winning streak of the season, the RailCats finished with 14 hits in Wednesday’s game and have scored 47 runs on 78 hits during the streak.  The ‘Cats have also gotten excellent pitching up and down the roster, with the LaPorte native Weeks (1-0) delivering Wednesday to earn his first professional win.  Weeks allowed just five hits and one walk in only his third professional start.

The RailCats, who have not trailed in three games against the Goldeyes this week, scored first Wednesday when Louis Ott doubled in a pair of runs in the second.  Ott, who had homered in the previous two games, now has nine RBI and four extra-base hits in the three games in Winnipeg.

Jay Pecci padded the RailCats lead in the fifth off starter Jason Mackintosh (1-3), singling in runners from second and third with a bouncing ball down the left field line.  Pecci, who would homer later in the game, finished 3-for-5 with three RBI and he now has six hits in the series.

The RailCats would tack on single runs in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings against Mackintosh and a pair of Goldeyes relievers.  Chris Carrara drove in Tanner Townsend with a single in the sixth, Pecci took Mackintosh deep in the seventh, Adam Klein drove home Carrara in the eighth with a double and Randall Simon doubled to score Cristian Guerrero in the ninth.

Weeks put the leadoff man on in four straight innings to end his outing, but every time found a way to get out of danger.  The biggest Winnipeg threat came in the sixth, with the score 5-0 RailCats.  After a Juan Diaz single put runners at first and third with one out, Weeks fell behind Luis Alen 3-1.  Weeks would come back to work the count full, however, then get Alen to bounce into an inning-ending double play.

The RailCats 14 hits came from six different hitters, five of whom had at least two hits.  Townsend, Klein and Pecci all had three hits, and Townsend reached in each of his first three at bats to extend an improbable streak.  Starting with a walk late in Monday’s game, Townsend reached base in nine straight plate appearances – on two walks, three singles, two doubles and two triples – before finally being retired in the seventh inning Wednesday.

Mackintosh allowed 11 hits and six runs (three earned) in 6.2 innings in the start to take the loss.  The Goldeyes committed five errors behind Mackintosh to help dig the early hole, including two each in the second and sixth innings.  Winnipeg had eight hits in the game, three from Vince Harrison.

The win moved the RailCats within four games of Kansas City and Fargo-Moorhead who sit tied atop the league standings.  Perhaps more importantly, the win also pushed the RailCats to two full games ahead of a three-way fourth place tie between Winnipeg, Joliet and Rockford.

The RailCats (40-36) and Goldeyes (38-38) wrap up the season series with a special noon matinee Thursday in Winnipeg.  Right-hander Nolan Nicholson (4-3, 4.19 ERA) will start for the ‘Cats opposite left-hander Chris Salamida (9-5, 5.23 ERA).  The game will be broadcast live on 89.1 FM, The Lakeshore, and online at www.railcatsbaseball.com.

Notes: The RailCats are four games over .500 for the third time this season, matching their high-water mark … Pecci’s homer in the seventh extended the RailCats streak to eight straight games with a home run as a team … the RailCats cranked out five extra-base hits Wednesday.