Breaking their own records, the T-Bones came out swinging in Cleburne against the Railroaders and won it all in extra innings by a final of 11-7.
Kansas City had five home runs in the night, their highest of the season, and they got 16 hits while fighting a fierce battle in Cleburne, Texas.
The T-Bones started hot, loading the bases with the first three batters.
Noah Perio Jr. came up to bat next and a fielder’s choice sent Dylan Tice running home to give the T-Bones the lead in the first inning 1-0.
Cleburne was not to be outdone, putting runners on all three bases with no outs. A sacrifice fly to right field sent Railroaders’ Trevor Sealey in to tie up the game. A double steal from the Railroaders put them in scoring position with runners on second and third.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Railroaders got a run on a ground out to short by Cam Monger, making the score at the end of the first inning, Cleburne 2, Kansas City 1.
Mason Davis kicked off the second inning with a homer to tie the game. In the bottom of the second, T-Bones pitcher Lucas Irvine finished off the inning, pitching two strikeouts in a row to send the Railroaders to the dugout.
The third inning was just as exciting, with Taylor Featherston hitting a triple that sent Colin Walsh running home and Curcio following up with a sacrifice fly to the left that put Featherston on the board, increasing the T-Bones lead to 4 – 2.
In the field, Keith Curcio caught former teammate Angel Rosa’s hit as it reached the wall, denying him what could’ve been a double or a home run in the third.
The Railroaders couldn’t score in the third, and the T-Bones didn’t score in the fourth. The Railroaders, however, did score, decreasing Kansas City’s lead to just one, making it 4 – 3.
In the fifth inning, Cleburne was plagued with errors, and in the sixth the Cleburne pitcher walked three T-Bones. Despite those advantages, the T-Bones weren’t able to score. After three innings without the T-Bones scoring, Cleburne would tie it as Monger hit a homer to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth to even the score at four.
The T-Bones were feeling the pressure, and with two outs Mason Davis hit a triple, but they weren’t able to convert it to a run.
Cleburne, on the other hand, used the pressure to score two runs. Kicking into gear, the T-Bones came back and tied it at six, thanks to a two-run home run from Noah Perio Jr. that sent both him and Walsh home to score.
A sacrifice fly from Angel Rosa gave the Railroaders the lead in the bottom of the eighth after three walks.
With two outs in the top of the ninth, Mason Davis was up to bat, the last hope for the T-Bones. With an 0-2 count he hit his second home run of the night and the game was tied at seven each.
In the bottom of the ninth, the T-Bones were hoping for extra innings. Thanks to three strikeouts from T-Bones pitcher Marcus Crescentini, they got their wish.
Todd Cunningham started the tenth inning off with a bang, hitting his first home run of the season.
Blowing it wide open, Keith Curcio hit a three-run home run, putting the score at Kansas City 11– Cleburne 7.
Ultimately, the Railroaders weren’t able to answer and the T-Bones walked away victorious after a long, tough battle. The two teams will play again at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday in Texas as the T-Bones hope to sweep the series.
Individual tickets, season, group, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale and can be purchased by visiting the box office at T-Bones Stadium or www.tbonesbaseball.com. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
The T-Bones’ games are airing on the T-Bones Broadcast Network, http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/.
– Story from T-Bones