Thursday night was the Chase Simpson show. The Railroaders’ third baseman finished the night 4-5 with three home runs and six RBIs.
His incredible performance helped the Cleburne Railroaders (14-29) defeat the Kansas City Monarchs (27-16) in a commanding 14-5 victory at Legends Field.
Cleburne jumped on the scoreboard early as Chase Simpson led off the second inning with a solo home run to center field.
Kevin Hilton started on the mound for the Railroaders. He was cruising through the first three innings, retiring nine straight batters.
Hilton could not retire ten in a row as Matt Adams belted a towering home run to right-center field, marking his fourth long ball in the past five games. Gaby Guerrero immediately followed the solo shot with one of his own to give the Monarchs a 2-1 lead.
The Railroaders tied the ballgame at two in the fifth inning when Chuck Taylor drove an RBI-single to left field.
After a scoreless fifth from Kansas City, Cleburne started to pour it on the Monarchs in the sixth. Simpson led off the inning with a solo home run to left field, notching his second home run of the night.
Four hits, three walks, and five runs later, Simpson stepped up and launched a grand slam over the home run patio to gather his third home run of the night. After the top half of the inning, the Railroaders led 12-2.
The Monarchs scored two runs the next two innings. Jan Hernandez hit a solo home run to left field in the sixth while Sweeney drove in Chad De La Guerra in the seventh as the Monarchs trailed 4-12.
Cleburne extended its lead in the top half of the eighth as Hector Sanchez hit a two-run bomb to center field, giving the Railroaders a 14-4 lead.
The Monarchs scored a run in the eighth inning when Matt Adams hammered an RBI-double to score Hernandez. After eight innings of baseball, Cleburne led 14-5 over Kansas City.
Michael Wong threw a scoreless ninth inning and retired Kevin Santa to end the game. The Railroaders won the four-game series, taking three of the four games against the Monarchs.
The Monarchs will continue their homestand at 7 p.m. Friday as they face the Gary SouthShore RailCats in a three-game series. Skydivers are scheduled before the game.
The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:30 p.m. and the video stream airing on aabaseball.tv.
Tickets to Monarchs games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com.