In the series opener, the Gary SouthShore RailCats (1-3) fell to the Houston Apollos (1-3) in a 6-4 final at the Steel Yard in Gary, Indiana.
The ‘Cats struck first in the opening frame with a sac-fly from Vaibhav Desai to plate Phil Caulfield and take an early 1-0 lead.
RailCats’ starter Nolan Clenney shoved a perfect two innings to open the ball game, allowing zero runs, no hits and striking out three before his day came to an end.
In the third, Houston’s Nick Anderson, who finished the day with a 2-for-4 clip, blasted a two-out, two-RBI homer into the scoreboard in left field off relief pitcher Malky Mena. Mena struck out three over his two innings of work and allowed four hits.
To retake the lead, Raymond Jones belted his second home run of the season, a two-run dinger over the left field fence, putting the RailCats back on top 3-2 in the third.
After Gary SouthShore added a run of insurance on a balk in the fifth, relief pitcher Tasker Strobel came onto the rubber and relinquished two runs in the fifth as the Apollos tied things up at four a piece.
Another came across for Houston in the fifth, and then the Apollos tacked on one more in the eighth frame, ultimately claiming a 6-4 win in the first game of the series at the Steel Yard, the Apollo’s first win of the year.
The Gary SouthShore RailCats will play game two against the Houston Apollos tomorrow, May 22 at 4:10 p.m.