Railroaders Can’t Overcome Early Deficit in Series Finale

CLEBURNE, Texas (Aug. 22, 2021) – The Sioux City Explorers plated five runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back on their way to a 10-4 win over the Cleburne Railroaders on Sunday night at The Depot at Cleburne Station.

Former major leaguer Jacob Rhame made his first start for Cleburne and ran into trouble quickly with a leadoff walk in the first to Michael Lang followed by a two-run home run from Blake Tiberi. After a pair of strikeouts, the X’s strung three two-out hits together to add three more runs for the 5-0 advantage. Rhame (0-1) got one out in the second before being lifted in favor of Daniel James.

The Railroaders (45-40) answered promptly with a run in the bottom of the first, courtesy of an RBI single from Ramon Hernandez that trimmed the deficit to 5-1. Noah Vaughan made it 5-2 with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth, but that would prove to be the closest that Cleburne would come as Sioux City (45-42) tacked on three more runs in the top of the fifth. Mitch Ghelfi’s solo homer capped the scoring in the inning for the Explorers, pushing the margin to 8-2. 

Brendan Bell worked 2.1 scoreless innings of relief for Cleburne before turning it over to Ramon Hernandez for the eighth and the ninth innings, allowing a single run in each frame. The Railroaders got their final runs of the evening on a two-run home run from Zach Nehrir in the bottom of the eighth.

Zach Hedges (7-4) picked up the win for Sioux City, allowing two runs over five innings of work.

Cleburne now holds a one-game lead for third place in the South Division standings heading into a three-game series against the Sioux Falls Canaries beginning on Monday night. 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.