NL Gary SouthShore Railcats

Goldeyes Beat RailCats in 13 Innings, Earn Series Win

Published on July 25, 2009 under Northern League (NL)
Gary SouthShore Railcats News Release


WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Kurt Crowell's home run in the bottom of the 13th sent 6,284 fans home happy at Canwest Park as the Winnipeg Goldeyes beat the Gary SouthShore RailCats 4-3 in 13 innings Saturday night to guarantee a series win.

Crowell took the first pitch he saw from Tristan Facer (0-1) over the wall in left for his second home run of the year. Crowell's homer was his only hit of the game and came off a tiring Facer, who threw 37 pitches Saturday after also pitching in Friday night's game. The young left-hander worked his way through a scoreless 11th and 12th innings before Crowell, the second batter of the 13th, ended a long night of baseball.

The RailCats had two excellent chances to take a lead in the extra innings, twice putting a runner at third base and less than two outs and failing to capitalize. The ‘Cats left four runners on over the last three innings, including Mike Massaro at third in the top of the 13th after he walked, went to second on a passed ball and to third on a sacrifice bunt. Jay Pecci - who had a huge hit earlier in the game to even get the RailCats to extra innings - grounded out to a drawn in infield for the second out before Matt Davis (5-5) got Steve Haake to ground out. Haake hit in the 11th with runners at second and third and one out and was struck out by Zach Baldwin.

Davis pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and one walk. The Winnipeg bullpen did not allow a run in 5.1 innings Saturday in back of a brilliant start from Bear Bay.

Bay pitched a perfect first four innings and held the RailCats off the board until the eighth. With Winnipeg in front 2-0, Mike Rohde reached on an infield base hit and was at second with two outs for Rob Marconi. On a 3-2 pitch, Marconi narrowly missed a game-tying home run, instead settling for a double off the wall in left to score Rohde. Massaro walked next to chase Bay from the game and bring Jordan Stewart out of the bullpen. Stewart coerced a ground ball off the bat of Eric McNamee but Josh Asanovich booted it at second to load the bases, and Pecci followed with a two-run single on an 0-2 pitch to give the RailCats a 3-2 lead, their only lead of the game.

The Goldeyes tied the score in the bottom of the eighth when Kevin West hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Cory Patton. The hosts scored their first two runs on solo home runs, one from Juan Diaz in the first and the other from Adam Frost in the fifth. Tom Thornton got the start for the RailCats and was very good, allowing only the two solo homers in six innings, giving up six hits and no walks.

With the win, the Goldeyes guarantee a series win, marking the first time since June 23-25 in Fargo that the RailCats will lose a series; the ‘Cats had won seven straight. Winnipeg's win also means the Goldeyes will be alone atop the Northern League standings when the RailCats leave town, with their advantage now two games over the second place ‘Cats.

The RailCats (36-27) and Goldeyes (35-24) close out their three-game series Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Canwest Park. Garret Holleran (1-1, 2.25 ERA) will make the start for the ‘Cats against Winnipeg right-hander Mark Michael (1-2, 4.50 ERA). That game will be broadcast live on 89.1 FM, The Lakeshore, and online at www.railcatsbaseball.com.

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Northern League Stories from July 25, 2009


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