Six hours, and a weather delay later, the Gary SouthShore RailCats (12-12) beat the Sioux City Explorers (14-9) in a 15-inning, 6-5 win on an Alec Olund walk-off single.
With Michael Woodworth on second in the bottom of the fifteenth frame, Olund singled into the right-center gap and Woodworth beat the throw to the plate to send us home. Olund had three hits on the day and Woodworth recorded his third straight multi-hit performance in as many starts on the year.
The RailCats tied a season-high with 16 hits in their fifth walk-off win of the year. Gary SouthShore is now 6-0 in extra inning baseball games on the season, and tonight’s 15-inning game ties the longest among American Association games this season.
Starters David Griffin for the RailCats and Joe Riley for the Explorers each earned no decisions in the extra-inning final. Griffin allowed two earned runs in six innings with six strikeouts while Riley allowed five earned runs over four innings.
Cas Silber earned the win for Gary SouthShore while Danny Hrbek earned the loss. Between the two teams, 33 players were showcased during the extra inning ballgame.
In relief, Silber, Nolan Clenney, and Jesse Remington combined for 9.2 innings of scoreless baseball from the seventh inning onward to cap off the win for the RailCats.
Clenney entered in a 5-5 game during the seventh and delivered 2.2 innings of two-hit, scoreless baseball. Remington basically served as starter number two for the RailCats with five scoreless innings of work, allowing three hits and five strikeouts. Remington’s five inning outing in relief is the second time this year a relief pitcher has thrown five or more scoreless innings en route to an extra-innings win.
Daniel Lingua had the first four-hit effort of the season for Gary SouthShore going 4-for-7 in the win, while Hayden Schilling went 3-for-7 for his first multi-hit game of the year.
The series finale between the Gary SouthShore RailCats and the Sioux City Explorers will be played tomorrow, June 12 at 2:10 p.m. at the Steel Yard in Gary, Indiana.