De La Rosa's Big Day Leads Mud Monsters to Sudden Death Road Walk-Off
FL Mississippi Mud Monsters

De La Rosa's Big Day Leads Mud Monsters to Sudden Death Road Walk-Off

Published on July 7, 2026 under Frontier League (FL)
Mississippi Mud Monsters News Release


Samil De La Rosa of the Mississippi Mud Monsters
Samil De La Rosa of the Mississippi Mud Monsters
(Mississippi Mud Monsters)

JOLIET, Ill. - Samil De La Rosa's bat provided two big sparks to lift the Mississippi Mud Monsters (23-29) over the Joliet Slammers (21-29) in a Sudden Death thriller resulting in a 6-5 walk-off win.

After going 7-5 in the twelve-game homestand that was, John Walsh headed to the hill to make his second professional start after being victorious in his first at home against Gateway. The Mud Monsters hard-charging offense would bring its momentum into the first game to provide run support early.

Mississippi loaded the bases after Jack Holman picked up his first single off the injured list to begin the frame, De La Rosa followed with one of his own and Kasten Furr was drilled by a pitch to juice the pillows full of Mud Monsters.

Tevis Payne II knocked the first run of the ballgame in with a base hit.

Victor Diaz followed suit with an RBI groundout to make it 2-0, and Brayland Skinner capped things off with a two-out infield single to bring home Furr to go up 3-0.

Joliet was able to equal Mississippi's run total with one run in each of its next three offensive chances.

First in the bottom of the second, Joliet brought home a run after Blake Berry started the frame with a walk and two batters later, Tyler Cerny singled to bring him in.

In the home half of the third, the Slammers scored after Ian Battipaglia dropped a bunt down the third baseline.

Walsh fielded it and fired low to Holman, allowing Battipaglia to cruise all the way to third base.

The next batter, Patrick Ward, sent a ball deep into center field to make it a one-run Mud Monsters lead at 3-2.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, it was another Mississippi fielding error that put a Joliet runner on.

Cam Suto grounded a ball that Slater Schield could not field, allowing him to reach. He would come around to try and score on a one-out single by Cerny, but Payne II rifled a throw from right field to gun out the runner at home.

Cerny himself advanced to second on the play and would later come in to score on an RBI triple by Kaden Morton to knot the game at 3-3.

The tied score held for one full frame until De La Rosa stepped up to the plate against Joliet reliever Ben Catrambone with the bases empty and one out.

Mississippi's designated hitter unloaded on a 3-1 offering, rocketing a solo blast over the left-field fence for a go-ahead home run to make it 4-3 Mud Monsters.

Jackson Smith took over for Walsh as the game flipped to the bottom of the sixth inning, ending the day for the Mud Monsters left-hander.

Walsh ended his day tossing five full innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits while walking one and striking out three.

Smith entered and tossed a scoreless first inning of work before running into trouble in the seventh.

The right-handed reliever walked the first man Brandon Heidal, and an error at first base by Holman on an attempt to get Heidal on a force at second followed as a fielder's choice with an error to allow Battipaglia to reach and make it first and second.

Ward dropped a sacrifice bunt down the first-base line to advance both men into scoring position.

Jackson Valera grounded a ball to Travis Holt at third that he could not make a play on, allowing the tying run to score to make it a 4-4 ballgame.

Smith remained on the hill for the bottom of the eighth inning, picking up back-to-back strikeouts before issuing two consecutive walks.

Despite the two-men-on situation, the Raymond, Mississippi native was able to quell the threat to send the tied game to the top of the ninth inning.

Chris Barraza entered in the bottom half of the ninth and walked the leadoff man Battipaglia before Ward dropped a bunt down to move the runner to second.

Battipaglia then stole third to move within ninety feet, but Barraza got a popout from Valera and struck out Suto to send the game to extra innings where the Mud Monsters offense would reawaken.

The Mississippi bats were in a dizzy spell since De La Rosa had given them the lead in the sixth inning, but with Schield as the ghost runner, Skinner lifted a fly ball to move him to third and Kyle Booker picked up his 48th RBI on the year to score the run to make it a 5-4 Mud Monsters lead.

Joliet formulated a response in its first chance in extras with Suto as its ghost runner and Barraza still on the hill.

First, Jackson Beaman grounded out to shortstop to move the tying run to third. Then the next batter, Cerny, grounded a hot shot to Holt who came up firing home to try and get Suto, but it skipped in low for the fifth Mud Monsters error on the day.

Barraza was able to pick up the final two outs of the frame as the game headed to Sudden Death Rules.

Playing in their third Sudden Death game overall and second within a week, Mississippi took to the plate as Joliet elected to play defense.

If Joliet held, they would be victorious, but the Mud Monsters, namely De La Rosa, had other plans.

With one out and Nathan Rose entering as a pinch-runner for Holt as the Sudden Death runner at first, De La Rosa took the first pitch he saw from lefty Jake Carroll and smashed it into left-center field where it caromed off the fence.

A hard-charging Rose, swiftly moving around the bases, circled third base as the relay throw came in offline, allowing the Mud Monsters to jump into a frenzy of celebration on the opponent's field.

The 6-5 victory marked the second extra-inning victory of the season for the Mud Monsters and the first on the road. De La Rosa finished his evening going 3-for-5 with the solo home run, a double, two runs scored and two RBIs.

The Mud Monsters continue their six-game road trip with the second game of a three-game set against the Slammers Wednesday evening. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT. Left-hander Tyler Campbell (3-2, 3.82) gets the start for Mississippi while right-handed pitcher Blane Zeplin (1-3, 8.66) goes for Joliet.

Check out the Mississippi Mud Monsters Statistics

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Samil De La Rosa of the Mississippi Mud Monsters
Samil De La Rosa of the Mississippi Mud Monsters
   



Frontier League Stories from July 7, 2026


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