WYATT MATHISEN PROPELS RAILROADERS TOWARDS A SECOND CONSECUTIVE WIN
CLEBURNE, TEXAS (August 13, 2022) – It was only a matter of time before Wyatt Mathisen made his presence known. The former Arizona Diamondbacks’ three-run bomb in the sixth inning of Saturday night’s contest between the Railroaders and the Kane County Cougars propelled the home team towards their second consecutive victory in a 6-4 final.
Although Cleburne ended up coming away with the win in the end, it was Kane County who got on the board first. Railroaders’ starter Kody Bullard struggled early on, allowing one run in the first and two more in the second. After two complete innings, it was 3-0 Kane County.
The Cougars put their final run of the contest up in the top of the fourth after Cornelius Randolph singled home Ernie De La Trinidad to make it 4-0.
It was all Railroaders after that, however. In the bottom of the fourth, Kacy Clemens launched his sixth home run of the season deep into the Cleburne night to cut the Cougars’ lead in half.
Cleburne took their first advantage of the game in the bottom of the sixth off of Mathisen’s three-run bomb. The home run was Mathisen’s second hit as a Railroader at the time, both of which were long balls.
The final tally in the run column was in the bottom of the seventh. With the bases loaded and two outs, Mathisen laid down a fantastic bunt that Cougars’ third basemen Dylan Busby was unable to field cleanly, allowing Chase Simpson to scamper home to make it 6-4.
The Railroaders were cruising toward their second straight win once the game was turned over to the bullpen after Bullard went five innings. Brendan Bell was fantastic in his inning of relief. He was followed by Jordan Foley who pitched a scoreless seventh inning. Kevin McCarthy came on in the eighth and worked a clean frame. Manager Logan Watkins then handed the ball to Nick Gardewine in the ninth. The former Ranger pitched a one-two-three final frame to shut the door on the Cougars and to deliver the Railroaders another victory.
Bell picked up his first victory of the season out of relief. Jose Fuentes got the loss for Kane County moving his record to 5-3.
Cleburne still sits a game and a half back of the Gary SouthShore RailCats for fourth place in the East Division after they shut out the Milwaukee Milkmen earlier in the day.
Kane County will play one more game versus the Railroaders tomorrow in the finale at 6:05 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 5:45 p.m. on aabaseball.tv and on the Railroader Radio Network.