Holiday cheer was in the air in Sioux Falls (30-34) as the Canaries celebrated a charity Christmas in July on Friday, and celebrate they did after a final walk that brought in the winning run for the Canaries, giving them the walk-off win, 4-3, over the T-Bones (31-31).
Tommy Collier started on the mound for the T-Bones, tossing seven solid innings for the T-Bones pitching his seventh quality start in 11 starts for the T-Bones.
In the top of the third, Mason Davis hit a single that advanced him to first, and Roy Morales went to second after reaching on an error. Dylan Tice hit a single that allowed Davis and Morales to score, pulling the T-Bones ahead 2-0.
In the top of the fourth inning, Tyler Marincov hit a single that advanced him to first base, and in the top of the fifth, Roy Morales walked to first, and Mason Davis hit a single that sent Morales to third, but no one could bring either runner home — a prevalent problem plaguing the T-Bones.
In the sixth inning, the Canaries narrowed the lead to (2-1) with a home run by Kevin Taylor off Tommy Collier.
In the top of the seventh, Casey Gillaspie answered with another home run, his third in this series, bringing the score to (3-1) for KC.
Robert Calvano came in for Tommy Collier who left after seven. Calvano retired the first batter but after walking Graham Low the ninth man in the order was relieved by Evan Korson.
The left-handed pitcher retired the first batter with a strike out but a triple by Andrew Ely brought Graham Low home, tightening the score to 3-2 and making the final innings another nail-biting situation for the T-Bones.
A Clint Coulter single brought Ely home, tying the ball game 3-3 in the eighth. Walks continued to plague the T-Bones late in the ballgame. With Korson struggling to find the strike zone, Kevin Hamann came in with Canaries on every base. Hamann managed to dodge even more damage, striking out Burt Reynolds, ending the eighth inning with the game tied, 3-3.
A lead-off walk for Marincov off Luis Pollerena got the inning started off well for the T-Bones, but a double play ball left the T-Bones with only one more hope in the ninth. Hamann walked the leadoff batter in the home half of the ninth, Josh Rehwaldt.
The next batter, Jordan Ebert, laid down a sacrifice bunt and appeared to be out at first but first base umpire Nick Saxton called him safe. T-Bones Manager Joe Calfapietra got tossed, incensed at the call. With an intentional pass for Brett Vertigan, the bases were loaded for the Canaries, but Hamann could not find the strike zone, walking in the game-winning run on four pitches and giving the win to the Canaries, 4-3.
The winning pitcher was the Canaries’ Pollerena (5-2), and Hamann (1-2) got the loss for the T-Bones. Manager Joe Calfapietra holds on to his record of 998 regular season wins.
The T-Bones head to CHS Field in St. Paul where they will take on the Saints in a three-game series beginning at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, looking to come back after a heart-breaking series loss. The game will be on the T-Bones Broadcast Network at http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/.
KC will return home on June 30 to face the Sioux Falls Canaries in a three-game series at JustBats Field at T-Bones Stadium.
Tickets to all T-Bones home games can be purchased online by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting the Saint Luke’s Box Office between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Group ticket sales are also on sale.
- Story from T-Bones