Collins Robinson drove home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Roswell Invaders rallied for two in the final frame to defeat the Salina Stockade, 6-5. Ian Yetsko drove in three for Roswell and Matt Collins earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief. The Invaders scored five runs over the final three frames.

Each team got on the board with a run in the first. Aaron Takacs doubled with one down and scored when Alex Nielson followed with a base hit up the middle. In the bottom of the inning, Taichi Nakamura singled with one down, moved to third on a double and scored on a ground out by Seth Strong.

An inning later, Jared Gay put Salina back on top when he blasted his third homer of the year. That made it 2-1 Stockade.

In the fourth, Salina extended their lead to two. Ernie Geraci doubled with one down. Drew Schutt then drew a walk before Gay singled to load the bases. It looked like the Stockade would put together a big inning, but Jose Tejeda followed with a sacrifice fly before Tommy Giunta struck out. Salina had another run, but one was all they would get.

The 3-1 lead held through the sixth as Giunta was absolutely brilliant for Salina. After yielding the run in the first, the Stockade starter retired 14 of the next 16 batters he faced. He only allowed two walks during that span, and both of those runners were erased on double-plays.

However, things changed with one swing in the seventh. Coleton Horner and Strong led off with back-to-back singles. That brought Yetsko to the plate, who drilled his sixth homerun of the year to put Roswell on top, 4-3.

The Stockade responded right away in the top of the eighth. With two down, Geraci kept the inning alive with a single. Schutt then drilled his first homer of the year over the right-center field wall to put Salina back on top by a run.

Giunta remained in the game in the ninth. He walked the first batter before giving up a single to put two on with no one out. That brought a call to the bullpen. Joey Deperno came on and walked Yetsko to load the bases. Darryl Donerson followed with a single up the middle, bringing home Horner to tie the score. That set up Robinson, who hit a ball to right that easily scored Strong to give the Invaders the walk-off victory.

It was the heart of the Invaders order that was the difference as they were 7-13 with five runs scored and six RBI. Horner and Strong each finished with two hits and two runs scored for Roswell. Geraci had two hits and two runs scored for the Stockade.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier