Lone Star Walk off Gives Missions Sole Ownership Atop South Division

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TL San Antonio Missions

Lone Star Walk off Gives Missions Sole Ownership Atop South Division

June 22, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
San Antonio Missions News Release


SAN ANTONIO - Despite a 59-minute rain delay, Saturday evening's clash of Texas League southpaws featured another white-knuckle ballgame between the San Antonio Missions (39-29) and the Frisco RoughRiders (37-30). Entering the ninth with one run separating the Missions from first place of the Texas League South, Francisco Acuña began the inning with a walk, Devin Ortiz followed with a sacrifice bunt and though the rain was long gone, late inning lightning struck once again as Brandon Valenzuela lined a single to right field to walk off the RoughRiders 3-2.

Accompanied with a Midland loss, San Antonio now holds complete ownership of first place and control of its destiny. With a victory tomorrow evening or another Midland loss, the Missions will become the champions of the first half of the Texas League South.

Jagger Haynes and the first place battling Missions took the field donning special Harry Potter themed jerseys presented by Down Syndrome Association of South Texas. Magic dispersed throughout the ballpark as Haynes worked six full frames around a lead off Cam Cauley blast that left the Missions trailing 1-0. On the journey through the six innings pitched, the left-hander picked up five strikeouts while allowing the lone run on four hits while walking one.

With the Missions playing catch up from the get-go, the bats clocked in. A collection of singles by Francisco Acuña, Moisés Gómez and Romeo Sanabria loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning but a diving looper by Ripken Reyes managed to find Cauley's glove in center field and San Antonio left the inning without scoring.

Despite their first scoring chance being shut down, the Missions did not wait long to find their offensive response. Wyatt Hoffman legged out an infield hit with two outs in the following inning. Acuña followed suit with a liner down the left field line for an RBI double, scoring Hoffman and tying the game 1-1 in the second.

Both offenses sat dormant through the ensuing four innings as both teams reached into their bullpens with the game still knotted. San Antonio chose Ethan Routzahn as the successor to Haynes in the seventh. Despite a one out single by Frainyer Chavez, the right-hander retired the side to get the Missions to the plate.

As the inning cycled to the home side, Frisco righty Travis MacGregor, who entered in relief for starter Mitch Bratt in the sixth remained on the mound for the seventh. Nerwilian Cedeño began the frame lining a ball into left field for a double, moving to third via a timely sacrifice bunt by Hoffman. With one down, Frisco elected to intentionally walk Acuña. Devin Ortiz went down swinging, but Acuña swiped second base. Now with two outs in the inning, Brandon Valenzuela walked to load the bases as Moises Góméz stepped up to the plate. Gomez fell behind in the count 1-2 before MacGregor lost control of a pitch and plunked Gomez to bring home Cedeño to give the Missions a 2-1 lead. Frisco Manager Carlos Cardoza brought in Gavin Collyer who got Sanabria to ground out to end the inning.

A one-run advantage did not suffice for long as Cauley connected on a pitch from Ethan Routzahn for his second home run of the game to tie the game at two. With the game at a standstill once again, San Antonio turned to lefty Jake Higginbotham in relief who retired the next three batters in order.

The Missions could not bring home any runs to snap the tie in the bottom of the eighth and Higginbotham's outing rolled into the ninth. Keyber Rodriguez put the left-hander in hot water after smoking a leadoff double, but the water gradually became lukewarm followed by ice cold as Higginbotham struck out the next two batters consecutively and induced an Ian Moller ground out to keep the game locked at 2.

Skyler Hales came on for the RoughRiders in the bottom of the ninth as the Missions sent their 1-2-3 batters to the plate. Magic radiated once more. Acuña walked on five pitches; Ortiz laid down the clutch sacrifice bunt to move Acuña to second, meaning 180ft now separated San Antonio from first place. Valenzuela took a strike from Hales on the outside corner followed up by taking the 0-1 pitch from Hales and lining the finishing blow to score Acuña, giving the Missions the 3-2 victory.

UP NEXT:

The Missions wrap up their pivotal six-game home series against the Frisco RoughRiders to end the first half of the season on Sunday night. A win means the Missions will be the first half champions of the Texas League South. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 PM. San Antonio sends right-hander Luis Patiño (0-0, 0.57) to the bump as Frisco tabs Trey Supak (4-2, 4.47) as their starter to close out the first half. Sunday is Six Flags Kid's Day! The first 250 kids (48" & under) will receive a FREE admission voucher to Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Kids also get to run the bases after the game. Catch all the action on Country Legends KKYX, 680 AM, 104.9 FM and kkyx.com. Tickets are available at samissions.com or by calling 210-675-7275. Fans can also visit the box office at Wolff Stadium on gamedays.

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Texas League Stories from June 22, 2025


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