Cleburne Splits Doubleheader
GENEVA, Ill. (July 11, 2021) – The Cleburne Railroaders split a doubleheader with the Kane County Cougars on Sunday afternoon at Northwestern Medicine Field, winning game one 5-1 before dropping game two 6-1.
With the split, Cleburne (27-21) secured a seventh consecutive series win and a 4-2 road trip.
GAME ONE
The Railroaders got a complete game effort from Garrett Alexander (6-4), who worked all seven innings while allowing five hits and one run. The rookie right-hander struck out five and walked three, throwing exactly 100 pitches to earn the win. Alexander benefitted from a pair of double plays, including a 4-6-3 twin killing that ended the game in the seventh.
Cleburne grabbed the lead in the top of the first. Osvaldo Martinez led off the inning with a double, moved to third on an Alay Lago single, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Ramon Hernandez.
Kane County evened the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth on a leadoff solo home run from Kacy Clemens.
The Railroaders took the lead for good with three runs in the top of the sixth. Lago ripped an RBI triple, then scored himself on a run-scoring single from Hernandez. Hunter Clanin capped the scoring in the inning with a line drive sacrifice fly to center that pushed the Cleburne lead to 4-1.
Hernandez added another sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh, giving him three runs driven in on the day and a league-leading 56 on the season.
Josh Tols (2-4) took the loss for Kane County, allowing seven hits and four runs over six innings.
GAME TWO
Kane County rookie left-hander Koby Bishop (1-2) tossed five scoreless innings to earn his first professional win. He allowed seven hits and four walks, but managed to strand all 11 Cleburne baserunners with the help of four strikeouts.
The Cougars (25-25) got all the scoring they would need in the bottom of the third. Josh Allen banged a two-run double off the top of the left field fence, then scored later in the inning on an RBI single from Mark Karaviotis for a 3-0 lead.
Mitch Reeves hit a solo homer leading off the fourth inning to push the margin to 4-0, and Josh Allen added a sacrifice fly later in the inning for a 5-0 lead.
A run-scoring ground ball of the bat of Josh Rolette in the bottom of the fifth wrapped up the scoring for Kane County.
Cleburne broke up the shutout with two outs in the top of the seventh. Noah Vaughan sliced an opposite-field RBI double to plate Clanin, but Mark Seyler got Grant Buck to fly out a batter later for the final out.
Stephen Greenlees (1-1) took the loss for Cleburne, allowing three runs over three innings of work on three hits.
Lago paced the Cleburne offense with three hits, finishing the series 9-for-12 to raise his season average to .340.
The Railroaders will return home to The Depot for three more games against the Cougars beginning on Tuesday. First pitch of the series opener is scheduled for 7:06 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.