The Gary SouthShore RailCats (4-5) once again offered extra baseball to fans at the Steel Yard and won 7-6 in ten innings, defeating the Kane County Cougars (6-3) and snapping their five-game winning streak.
With one down in the bottom of the ninth, Daniel Lingua blasted a two-run shot to tie things up at six a piece and send the game to extras, the third extra-inning game of the RailCats 10-game home stand.
Lingua, who finished 2-for-3 on the evening, quite literally walked things off in the tenth, earning a base on balls to plate Jesus Marriaga who represented the winning run.
Nick Garcia was lights out in relief earning his first win of the year with four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four. The loss was dealt to Tom Curtain who didn’t record an out as conceded one run while relinquishing one hit and walking three.
Kane County Shortstop Galli Cribbs, Jr. came around to score the first run of the game on a triple by Anfernee Seymour in the top of the third, but the RailCats responded in a big way. Gary SouthShore tacked on four runs in the bottom of the third frame with five hits, two of which resulted in extra bases delivered by Alec Olund and Hayden Schilling.
In his second game in the green and white, Alec Olund went 2-for-4 at the dish as the local Crown Point, IN native scored a pair as well.
The Cougars slowly chipped away at the lead, scoring two in the top of the fourth and two more in the top of the sixth, when they took the lead, punctuated by a home run from designated hitter Mark Karaviotis.
Kane County got one more in the seventh with two quick doubles in the frame. Cougar reliever and former RailCat Mark Seyler earned the hold in this contest with two scoreless innings.
Four RailCats had multi-hit performances on the night, including Lingua, Olund, Marriaga and Phil Caulfield, who ended his evening with a 3-for-4 day at the dish. Caulfield’s three singles compiled his first three-hit effort of the season.
The series finale gets underway tomorrow, May 27 at 12:10 p.m. as the Gary SouthShore RailCats close out their 10-game home stand with game four against the Kane County Cougars.