The Cleburne Railroaders scored early and often to secure a 13-2 victory over the Gary SouthShore RailCats.
Cleburne scored in five of their nine trips to the plate, including three runs in the fourth and seventh innings along with four in the eighth, to capture their second win in as many days on the South Shore.
After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first, the RailCats countered by scoring their first run in the bottom of the first. Daniel Lingua drew a leadoff walk and promptly stole second before a pair of groundouts plated him to cut the Railroader lead in half.
However, over their next seven turns at bat, Cleburne quickly pulled away, going ahead 13-1 in the blink of an eye.
Down to their final six outs, the RailCats refused to go down without a fight. Nate Scantlin led off the bottom of the eighth by doubling down the left field line, and Lingua got hit by a pitch to place runners on first and second. A passed ball enabled them to both advance 90 feet, and a wild pitch on ball four to Tom Walraven brought Scantlin home.
Despite only plating two runs, the RailCats had at least one baserunner in every inning, and all but one player in the starting lineup reached base at least once. Scantlin led the way by registering three hits, two of them doubles, while Lingua, Walraven, Jesus Marriaga, and Sherman Graves all got on base twice.
The RailCats take on the Railroaders for the final time this year tomorrow at 6:45 for a crucial series finale at The Steel Yard. All the action will be streamed on www.aabaseball.tv, 95.9 WEFM, and the Gary SouthShore RailCats Broadcast Network through the Mixlr app.
