White's homer beats AirHogs in ninth

Published on July 22, 2011 under American Association (AA)
Grand Prairie AirHogs News Release


AMARILLO, Texas -- For the second time in three days, the Grand Prairie AirHogs were beaten on a home run with two outs in the final inning, as they lost their fifth straight series opener on the Amarillo Sox's Jason White's three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to win 7-4 at Sox Stadium.

The AirHogs (42-22) probably would have forced extra innings if not for a critical error earlier in the inning. After Jon Fulton (2-2) walked Van Pope to start the inning, Tim Alberts struck out on a 3-2 pitch with the runner going. Catcher Chris McMurray made a strong throw to second, and Alberts decided to turn back to first and get into a rundown. Shortstop Guillermo Martinez's throw then hit Alberts and went into foul territory, allowing Alberts to go to second.

Fulton then intentionally walked Kevin Butler, and struck out Alex Chavez for the second out. But White turned on the first pitch he saw just past Tyler Henley's leap in right to send the home crowd home happy.

White's hit was the first for Amarillo (30-35) since his triple in the fifth, as Jason Jennings worked eight strong innings after giving up four early runs. The Sox took the lead with a pair of home runs - a two-run homer by Cyle Hankerd in the first and a solo shot by Chavez in the second, along with an RBI groundout by Hankerd in the third.

But Jennings allowed one hit and two walks the rest of the way, as the AirHogs battled back against Matt Elliott with some long balls of their own in the fifth. John Alonso led off with a home run, and with one out, David Thomas tripled, McMurray homered and Tyler Henley made it back-to-back with his second long ball of the year to tie the game.

Elliott settled down after that and allowed one more baserunner in his seven innings. Three Amarillo relievers, LaCurtis Mayes, Jacob Wortham and Austin Chambliss (1-3) held the AirHogs to one hit and three walks the rest of the way as the Sox got their winning runs to end the game.

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