Cleburne Comeback Evens Series
CLEBURNE, Texas (Aug. 21, 2021) – The Cleburne Railroaders rallied from a 5-0 deficit to surge past the Sioux City Explorers 8-6 on Saturday night at The Depot at Cleburne Station.
The Railroaders (45-39) trailed 5-0 with two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the fourth inning. On a 2-2 pitch from Sioux City starter Tyler Koch, Ramon Hernandez drove a solo home run to left field to get Cleburne on the board and trim the lead to 5-1. D.J. Peterson followed with a double, and Chase Simpson cranked a towering two-run homer down the left field line that pulled the Railroaders within 5-3.
Hernandez’s homer was his 20th of the season, matching Simpson’s single-season franchise record from 2019. Hernandez has now driven home 91 runs on the season, two shy of Simpson’s franchise record.
In the fifth, the Railroaders completed the comeback with a five-run inning. Alay Lago’s sacrifice fly made it 5-4, setting the stage for Hernandez who pulled a two-out RBI single through the left side to tie the game. Peterson put the Railroaders in front with a two-run double down the left field line, and Simpson capped the inning with a run-scoring RBI single that made it 8-5 Cleburne.
Garrett Alexander (7-6) earned the win in a spot start for the Railroaders, allowing just two earned runs over five innings. Sioux City (44-42) scored five times with two outs in the top of the third, highlighted by a three-run homer from Seamus Curran. Sebastian Zawada led off the top of the sixth with a solo shot against Alexander that cut the Cleburne lead to 8-6, but the Railroaders bullpen slammed the door with four scoreless innings.
Brendan Bell, Austin Fairchild, Landon Holifield and Nick Gardewine each tossed a shutout inning, with Gardewine nailing down his second save with a pair of strikeouts in the top of the ninth.
Danny Hrbek (1-4) took the loss for Sioux City, allowing all five runs in the fifth.
Cleburne now holds a two-game lead for third place in the South Division standings heading into the series finale on Sunday night. The Railroaders have not yet announced their starter, while Sioux City will go with righty Zach Hedges (6-4, 4.66). First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 PM.
For information on partnerships, season tickets, group outings, and party packages, call the Railroaders main office at (817) 945-8705, or visit the Railroaders official website at www.railroaderbaseball.com.