AA Sioux Falls Canaries

Abercrombie, Pheasants walk off over Winnipeg

Published on August 27, 2011 under American Association (AA)
Sioux Falls Canaries News Release


SIOUX FALLS- The Sioux Falls Pheasants certainly know how to keep their hometown fans on the edge of their seats, even if they've already been eliminated from playoff contention.

The Birds battled back on Saturday night at Sioux Falls Stadium from deficits of 9-0 and 12-5 before Reggie Abercrombie launched his second home run of the game to pull out an improbable 13-12 walk-off win in 11 innings over the North Division-champion Winnipeg Goldeyes.

Despite carrying a season-long, 11-game losing streak, the Pheasants played inspired baseball against the playoff-bound Goldeyes. Sioux Falls twice responded to big innings from the Winnipeg offense, and came back from being down three runs to tie the game in the ninth inning.

"Looking at what happened recently, its can be hard to understand that we're not a team to give up, we haven't give up," said manager Steve Shirley. "We still go out there every night and battle, still expecting to win. You can tell by the excitement from when we came back and when we won that it still means something."

In the ninth, Abercrombie doubled to bring home Gus Milner to cut the Winnipeg lead to 12-10. Following a fly out from Mark Shorey, back-to-back singles by Brandon Sing and Francisco Leandro scored Abercrombie, bringing the Pheasants to within one run. An RBI groundout from Henry Contreras brought home Sing to complete the comeback.

Abercrombie led off the 11th with a towering shot to give the Pheasants their only lead of the game. He finished 4-for-6 with two homers, two doubles and seven RBI to lead the Birds' offense. The seven RBI ties a team record.

"It means a lot to get this win," said Abercrombie. "Even though we are out [of the race], we know we can come out hard and fight and we came through tonight."

The Goldeyes jumped out early, and opened the floodgates in the fourth. Five-consecutive hits to lead off the inning, including RBI singles by Louis Ott and Justin Bass, pushed the lead to four runs. Later in the inning, Jon Weber laced a line drive past a diving Leandro to clear the bases and give the Winnipeg a 7-0 advantage. Luis Alen then doubled to score Weber, and Wes Long singled for the second time in the inning to drive in Alen, capping the seven-run inning.

The Pheasants refused to go away. Abercrombie and Sing each hit two-run homers to begin the bottom of the fourth. An RBI groundout from Contreras cut the deficit to four runs, bringing the Birds back to within striking distance of the North division champs.

The Goldeyes scored three more runs in the seventh for a 12-5 lead, but Pheasants responded in the bottom half to bring home four runs, including Abercrombie's bases-clearing, three-run double with two outs.

Brandon Rapoza (5-10) pitched three perfect innings of relief to collect the win.

Winnipeg Outfielder Ridge Carpenter (0-1) took the loss, giving up the walk-off home run to Abercrombie.

Sioux Falls improved to 41-55 with the victory.

The two clubs take the field for game two of this four-game series at 5:05 p.m. on Sunday, August 28, at sioux Falls Stadium. Mascot Mania will highlight the final Family FUN in the SUNday. Pheasants mascot Ringer will invite his mascot friends out for on-field games and celebrations with the kids. Plus, youngsters can run the bases after the game and players will be on hand for postgame autographs.

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