ERRORS PLAGUE RAILCATS AS ‘ROADERS CAPITALIZE IN 5-4 VICTORY
CLEBURNE, TEXAS (July 28, 2022) – The Railroaders fell behind early but took advantage of a couple of costly mistakes by the RailCats to complete another comeback victory against Gary SouthShore in a 5-4 final on Thursday evening.
Gary SouthShore jumped out in front in the top of the first with a big three-run bomb off the bat of LG Castillo to give the RailCats a 3-0 lead off starter Josh Lucas.
Lucas, who was on a pitch count, went three innings in the ballgame. He allowed just three runs off the Castillo homer as well as striking out five and walking just one.
The RailCats struck for an additional run in the top of the fourth off Trevor Simms. This time it was Tom Walraven, who has been a thorn in the side of the Railroaders all series long. He launched his third home run of the series over the left-field wall to extend the RailCats' lead to 4-0.
After that, however, it was all Cleburne. Going into the bottom of the fourth, the Railroaders had been rendered hitless. And with two outs in the fourth, it was looking like Adam Heidenfelder was going to go four innings without surrendering a base knock. That was until Kacy Clemens stepped into the box and drilled a double in the corner in left field to put the ‘Roaders into the hit column. Hill Alexander came up next and took advantage with a base knock of his own to score Clemens and make the score 4-1.
Then with Hector Sanchez at the plate and Alexander at first, RailCats’ catcher Jackson Smith attempted a back-pick of Alexander but sailed the throw over the head of the first basemen and into right field. Alexander easily scampered into second base on the error, but after right fielder Jesus Marriaga let the ball scoot under his glove, Alexander turned on the jets and raced into home to cut the RailCats’ lead in half at 4-2.
Cleburne struck for another run in the bottom of the fifth when Chase Simpson knocked Chuck Taylor home with two outs on a single.
With the score at 4-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Gary SouthShore turned to one of their more reliable relievers in Jack Eisenbarger to shut down the middle of the Cleburne order. Simpson led off the inning with a single. He then advanced a base when Clemens walked. Eisenbarger got Alexander to hit a slow roller to first, which was fielded by Sam Abbott who fired it to Walraven who was covering second base. Walraven touched second to get Clemens but then threw a duck over to first that got past Abbott and into the Gary dugout. The error scored Simpson to tie the game up at four.
Sanchez continued to pour it on as he singled to advance Alexander to third. That brought Jacob Bockelie to the plate as the man who could drive in the go-ahead run for the Railroaders. He did just that with a sacrifice fly to left field that brought Alexander home and gave the Railroaders their first lead of the night.
Nick Gardewine came on in relief in the top of the ninth to shut it down for Cleburne. He retired the first two batters before giving up a single to Walraven. Walraven stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position for Abbott who would strike out to end the ballgame.
The 5-4 victory for Cleburne is their second in a row and puts them two and a half games ahead of the RailCats for fourth place.
Picking up the victory out of relief was Kevin McCarthy. In his two innings of scoreless work, he didn’t allow a hit.
Eisenbarger got the tough-luck loss for the RailCats. He went one inning and allowed two hits and two runs (both unearned) while walking one and striking out another.
The series continues tomorrow as Cleburne will look to win their third consecutive against the RailCats at 7:06 p.m. from The Depot at Cleburne Station, with pregame coverage beginning at 6:45 p.m. on AABaseball.tv and on the Railroader Radio Network.