PITCHING COMES UP SHORT IN MARATHON
CLEBURNE, TEXAS (July 30, 2022) – The Railroaders got out ahead 8-3 after two innings on Saturday night from The Depot at Cleburne Station, but Gary SouthShore scratched and clawed their way back and came all the way from behind five with seven unanswered to defeat the Railroaders 10-9.
Cleburne starter Garrett Alexander struggled throughout the night including in the first inning. The RailCats fired off three runs in the first to take the quick lead, highlighted by a Michael Woodworth two-run blast.
But in an unusual turn of events, the ‘Roaders struck for seven in the bottom half of the inaugural frame to storm back into the game.
All the runs came with two outs off RailCats’ starter Harrison Francis, and it started with a Zach Nehrir single. Chase Simpson doubled him to home to get the first run across for Cleburne. Kacy Clemens drew a walk and then Hill Alexander tied the ball game with a line drive into the alley that brought both Simpson and Clemens to the plate. Hector Sanchez got in on the doubles parade with one of his own to knock in Alexander to give Cleburne the 4-3 lead. Jacob Bockelie grounded one down the line for the Railroaders' fourth double of the inning, one that scored Sanchez to make it 5-3. Nick Shumpert reached on an infield single and that brought Edwin Arroyo into the batter’s box. He singled to center, driving home both Bockelie and Shumpert, and all of a sudden, the Railroaders were ahead 7-3.
They padded onto that advantage in the second when Nehrir blasted one up the tollway to make it 8-3. That home run would be the last hit for Cleburne until the eighth inning.
Slowly but surely, the RailCats got their way back into the ballgame. In the top of the fourth, Tom Walraven and Nate Scantlin scored on another clutch Woodworth hit, this one a single that brought the deficit down to 8-5 for Gary SouthShore. One more run came across off Garrett Alexander when Jesus Marriaga hit a single to drive in Woodworth. That base knock chased Alexander from the game and Josh Lucas’ name was called to try and shut it down. Before he was able to get out of the inning, he surrendered a single by Victor Nova that brought in a run and shrunk the lead to one for Cleburne.
Gary SouthShore knotted it up in the next inning when Woodworth struck for his fifth RBI of the night.
No one struck for any runs until the seventh. After an error by Simpson extended the inning for the RailCats, LG Castillo singled two runners across to give Gary SouthShore a 10-8 advantage.
Cleburne got one of those runs back in the bottom of the eighth when Bockelie doubled and then Arroyo grounded a bounding ball into center field that scored the Railroaders’ catcher.
With the score at 10-9 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the RailCats turned to Yeison Medina to shut down the ‘Roaders. He did just that, retiring the side to end the game and give the RailCats their third victory of the six-game series.
Brendan Bell picked up the loss for the Railroaders, his first of the year. He went one inning and allowed two runs (both unearned) on two hits. Aaron Phillips was the winner for the RailCats. He went two-thirds of an inning of scoreless work.
The game was played in a whopping four hours and fifteen minutes, the longest nine-inning affair the Railroaders have played all season.
Another statistic of note, the RailCats broke the single-game record for stolen bases with their 15 stolen bases, breaking the previous mark of 12 which was set by the Railroaders just over a week ago against Gary SouthShore.
The win moves the RailCats just half a game out of fourth place and a playoff spot heading into the series finale tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. Pregame coverage will begin at 5:45 p.m. on AABaseball.tv and on the Railroader Radio Network.