Johnson and White's bats help Sox walkoff with 10-9 win over Saints

Published on June 2, 2011 under American Association (AA)
Amarillo ThunderHeads News Release


AMARILLO, TX - The Amarillo Sox needed every inning of baseball on Thursday night to defeat the St. Paul Saints, but thanks to the bats of Benji Johnson and Jason White, they walked off with the win 10-9 in front of 2,046 fans at the Amarillo National Bank Sox Stadium.

Sox reliever Corey Bass (1-1) got the win, allowing no runs in the ninth inning following the Saints rally. St. Paul reliever Caleb Thielbar (0-2) got the loss, allowing the run in the ninth for the Amarillo win. The Sox took three games of the four-game series.

The Sox got on the board with round trippers in the first inning. Cyle Hankerd reached on a two-out error followed by a Lee Cruz single. Van Pope hit a ball sharply to centerfield which skipped over the fielder's head and allowed both runners and Pope to score for an inside-the-park three-run homerun. Johnson followed with a solo shot for a 4-0 Amarillo lead.

The Saints got back in the game with a solo homerun by Ronnie Bourquin and an RBI single by Jake Krause in the second inning. They would score again in the third on a bases loaded walk for a one-run 4-3 score.

Amarillo extended their lead in the fourth as Tim Alberts doubled and scored on a Fehlandt Lentini homerun for a 6-3 Sox advantage.

St. Paul pulled their deficit to one in the seventh with a two-run homerun from Adam Frost, but Amarillo scored in the bottom half of the seventh. Pope hit a leadoff triple and scored on a Johnson RBI single to lead by two. Hankerd hit a two-run single in the eighth for a 9-5 advantage.

The Saints quickly plated three runs in the ninth inning and Brandon Tripp hit a sacrifice fly to score Frost from third to tie the game 9-9.

In the ninth, Johnson tripled with one out. Following two intentional walks to load the bases, White singled to center to score Johnson and give the Sox a 10-9 victory.

With the win, the Sox improve to 8-11 while the Saints fall to 12-7. On Friday, Amarillo will travel to Fort Worth to take on the Cats for the opening game of a three-game set at 7:05pm. The game can be heard by visiting www.fwcats.com. Game time is tentative and is subject to blackout.

Season tickets are available for purchase in-person by visiting the Sox Front Offices at 801 S. Polk or over the phone by calling (806) 242-4653. For more information on tickets, game times and schedules, promotions, marketing opportunities, and everything else Sox, visit the "Official Website of the Amarillo Sox" at www.amarillosox.com.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Association Stories from June 2, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central