South Bend’s Jhonny Pereda reached base three times Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Emma Reese)

SOUTH BEND – Bobby Melley drove home both the tying and winning runs with sacrifice flies as the Bowling Green Hot Rods (21-15, 52-51) came from behind for the second straight night in a 4-3 win over the South Bend Cubs in front of a crowd of 6,384 on Sunday afternoon at Four Winds Field.

South Bend (15-21, 54-51) took the lead against Hot Rods starter Adrian Navas (W, 8-8) in the bottom of the first inning. Third baseman Andruw Monasterio led off the game with a single to left. With one out, second baseman Austin Upshaw singled to right putting runners at first and second. Right fielder Chris Pieters grounded a single up the middle that got underneath the glove of Hot Rods centerfielder Josh Lowe, allowing all three runners to score and give the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

Bowling Green, the Class-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, got on the board in the top of the 4^thagainst Cubs starter Tyson Miller. Lowe led off with a single up the middle. He advanced to second on a groundout and then designated hitter Jonah Heim continued his strong series with a double to the right-center field gap that cut the lead to 3-1.

The Hot Rods tied the game in the top of the 6^th inning. Second baseman Mike Brosseau struck out but reached first base when the ball in the dirt eluded catcher Jhonny Pereda. Lowe than singled to right to put runners at the corners and right fielder Jesus Sanchez followed with a single up the middle that scored Brosseau. Lowe advanced to third on the play and Sanchez moved up to second on the throw home. Marc Huberman (L, 3-2) replaced Miller with one out and retired both batters he faced in the inning, but first baseman Bobby Melley was able to tie the game with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Lowe.

Navas settled down after allowing three runs in the first and kept the Cubs off of the scoreboard for the rest of his outing. He pitched 7 innings, allowing 3 runs (only 1 earned) and 7 hits while striking out 4 in the victory.

The Hot Rods broke the tie in the top of the 8^th inning. With one out, Sanchez singled to left and Heim followed with a single to right that put runners at first and second. Sanchez then stole third on a pickoff throw by the Cubs catcher Pereda and came home on Melley’s second sacrifice fly of the game.

Orlando Romero (S, 7) closed out the game for the Hot Rods. He entered in the 8^th inning and pitched two shutout innings to finish off the 4-3 victory. The Cubs threatened in the 9^th inning, but first baseman Joe Martarano lined into a double play to end the game with the bases loaded.