MIDLAND, Texas — The Midland RockHounds tied it with two runs in the ninth, before walking off in the bottom of the 13th for the 4-3 comeback win against the 1st-Half North Division Champion Springfield Cardinals before 2,787 fans at Security Bank Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.
The Cardinals (25-30, 66-59) opened an early advantage, striking first in the first inning against RHP Joel Seddon. LF Vaughn Bryan led off with a free pass, before moving to second on a groundout from SS Alex Mejia. A sharp single by 2B Bruce Caldwell advanced Bryan to third, before he darted home on a passed ball charged to C Beau Taylor, lifting the Cardinals ahead, 1-0.
Midland (37-19, 70-56), though, came right back with an unearned run of their own in the bottom of the first against RHP J.C. Sulbaran. With one down, SS Franklin Barreto worked a walk, before stealing his way to second base. Barreto took third on a groundout, and then raced in when a throwing error from SS Alex Mejia bounced away, squaring the score at 1-1.
The Cardinals swung right back in front in the top of the second. With one away, C Jesse Jenner belted a double to straight-away center field. One out later, Bryan reached on a fielding error to extend the inning and put runners at the corners with two outs. After Mejia was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Caldwell hammered a two-run single by 3B Yairo Munoz, plating both Jenner and Bryan to swing Springfield back in front, 3-1.
Sulbaran kept the 3-1 lead intact through the remainder of his start, going 5.2 innings with only the one unearned run on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Springfield then received scoreless relief from RHP Kevin Herget to close the sixth and start the seventh. LHP Justin Wright retired the next two in the seventh, before giving way to RHP Josh Lucas with two on and two down in the eighth. Lucas got the Cardinals out of the jam, stranding the potential tying runs at second and third, and keeping it a 3-1 Springfield lead through eight innings.
However, the RockHounds rallied in the bottom of the ninth. With Lucas on the mound and one away, 2B Joe Bennie singled himself on, followed by a ground-rule double from RF Danny Oh. After a walk drawn by CF Brett Vertigan loaded the bases, Lucas battled back with a foul out from SS Franklin Barreto for the frame's second out. C Beau Taylor, though, came through with a two-out, two-run single to right field, scoring Bennie and Oh to tie the game, 3-3, and force extra innings.
RHP Ronnie Shaban dealt scoreless innings in the 10th and 11th, before RHP Chris Perry (L, 1-2) posted a scoreless 12th.
The RockHounds, though, put together one last charge in the bottom of the 13th. Perry lost both Bennie and Oh to walks, opening the inning with two runners on. Vertigan then bounced a grounder to short that Mejia fielded, but could not record an out on, loading the bases with no outs. With Barreto at-bat, Perry bounced a wild pitch that skipped away from C Jesse Jenner and allowed Bennie to race home, propelling the RockHounds to the 4-3 walk-off win in 13 innings.
The Cardinals return to Hammons Field for the final homestand of the regular season from Tuesday, August 23 – Monday, August 29.
