In the series finale, the Gary SouthShore RailCats (17-20) fell to the Sioux Falls Canaries (18-18) in a 12-8 final at The Birdcage in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, resulting in the highest scoring game the RailCats have played this season.
Each of the Sioux Falls’ starters recorded at least one hit in the win while Canaries’ lead-off man Wyatt Ulrich went 5-for-5 with a home run, a triple, four runs and two RBI.
The Canaries jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first, but Jackson Smith snatched the advantage back for the RailCats with a two-RBI single in the second frame. Smith recorded a 2-for-3 day with two RBI at the dish, his first multi-hit effort of the year.
In the third, the Birds took the lead back with a four-run frame on back-to-back two-RBI base knocks, first a single from Jabari Henry and then a double from Trey Michalczewski. Henry kept his bat hot in a 3-for-4 showing with two runs and two RBI while Michalczewski went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs driven in.
A Daniel Lingua RBI double cut the game to 5-4 in the sixth, but the Canaries delivered six runs in the bottom of the frame on two home runs and an RBI triple on seven hits in the inning to take the 11-4 lead.
RailCats starter Jack Alkire suffered the loss, allowing 11 runs on 14 hits in six innings..
Gary SouthShore sliced back into the lead in the top of the eighth capped off by a bases clearing, three-RBI double by the veteran Zach Welz.
Yet, with a three-run lead, the Birds added one more to bring us to the 12-8 final in the series finale.
The Gary SouthShore RailCats have a day off tomorrow, and then open a three-game series on Tuesday, June 29 with 6:30 p.m. first pitch at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva, Illinois.