The Cleburne Railroaders (15-13) broke a scoreless tie in the sixth inning and held on from there as the Gary SouthShore RailCats (12-16) suffered a RailCats defeat on Saturday afternoon.
Chris Erwin started for the ‘Cats and gave them a chance to tie the series. The southpaw allowed just four hits in the game’s first five innings, yielding no runs. However, Cleburne’s pitching staff matched that scoreless effort, and the game remained devoid of runs heading into the sixth.
That’s when the Railroaders took the game’s first lead, utilizing a Guillermo Quintana single to plate the game’s first run. A two-RBI single from Elmer Reyes one batter later made it a 3-0 Cleburne lead.
The Railroaders scored five more times in the top of the eighth before the RailCats found the scoreboard.
However, in the bottom of the frame, the middle of the Gary SouthShore offense found its groove. Jesus Marriaga picked up his ninth hit of the series, a one-out infield single. Emmanuel Tapia followed up by launching a towering home run off the left field scoreboard, lessening the Cleburne advantage to six runs at 8-2.
The Railroaders scored one more run in the ninth before closing it out to win the game as well as the series.
The RailCats aim for revenge in tomorrow’s series finale against the Railroaders at 2:00 p.m from The Steel Yard. All the action will be streamed on www.aabaseball.tv and broadcast over the radio on 95.9 WEFM and the Gary SouthShore RailCats Broadcast Network via the Mixlr app.
