These Gary Southshore RailCats always seem to find a way to claw their way to victory. A night after falling out of first place in the Central Division of the American Association, the RailCats fell behind the Wichita Wingnuts early, 4-0, then they railed to tie the score, only to pull out a huge win in the bottom of the 15th to stay a game out of first.

The Wingnuts grabbed the lead in the top of the first inning. Christian Stringer started out the game by drawing a walk and Zack Cox followed with a single. Both moved up on a balk, and Stringer scored on a ground out. Matt Chavez singled to score Cox to make it 2-0.

In the top of the fourth Wichita extended the lead to four. Chavez singled with one out and Kain followed with a base hit to put runners at first and second. Brent Dean was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Brennan Salgado grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Kain. A wild pitch brought home Dean and it was 4-0.

Alex Boshers looked brilliant for the Wichita Wingnuts through the first five innings. He retired the first 12 batters of the game, only seeing his run come to an end when Alex Crosby doubled to left field to start the fourth. A base hit by Frank Martinez followed and there were runners at the corners with no one out. This was the RailCats chance to get right back into the game, but a comebacker by Jamie Del Valle got Crosby gunned at the plate. Matt Petrone then struck out and John Holland flew to left and the 4-0 lead was intact.

In the sixth Gary Southshore finally got on the board. Randy Santiesteban was hit by a pitch to start the inning and he then stole second base. A ground out moved him to third and he scored on a single by Crosby.

Trailing by three entering the seventh, the RailCats would mount a huge rally. Del Valle and Petrone started the inning with back-to-back singles. A fielder’s choice loaded the bases. Boshers was pulled and Chase Johnson took over.

Jeremy Hamilton pinch hit and delivered a single that scored Del Valle and Petrone. Elbert Devarie followed with a base hit that scored Holland and the game was tied.

Then the marathon began. For the next seven innings each team had its chances to win the game, but the opponent’s relievers came up big. Jorge De Leon was incredibly impressive for Gary, tossing four scoreless innings, allowing only one-hit while striking out four.

The Wingnuts got scoreless outings from five different relievers, including getting two scoreless innings from Chad Nading and Fabian Roman. That included a huge Houdini routine from Roman, who loaded the bases with one out in the 12th, but then induced a double-play to end the inning.

In the 15th, the Wichita Wingnuts finally got on the board to grab the lead. Stringer walked with one out and scored on a double by Cox. It was 5-4 Wingnuts, but the RailCats were not going to lay down on this one.

In the bottom half of the inning, Crosby doubled to start the inning. Two batters later Jose Gonzalez singled to put runners at the corners with one out. That brought Petrone to the plate, who singled to right field. Crosby easily scored to tie the game. The right fielder misplayed the ball, and Gonzalez ran all the way from first to score the game-winner.

Santiago Rodriguez (4-4) earned the win despite giving up the run in the top half of the inning. Jesse Pratt (3-2) took the loss.

Crosby was 3-7 with a run and an RBI for Gary. Devarie also had three-hits.

The Wichita Wingnuts have Monday off, but play a double-header Tuesday night against the Joplin Blasters. Jon Link (6-2, 3.58) will start game 1. First pitch is 5:05.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier