CLEBURNE, Texas – A tightly contested game finished in dramatic fashion as the Sioux City Explorers (30-33) won an extra-inning game, taking down the Cleburne Railroaders (38-28) Thursday night 5-4. Two clutch home runs in the eighth and ninth from Sioux City’s Justin Connell and John Nogowski gave the X’s a 4-2 lead entering the final frame, but it was the go-ahead 11th-inning double from Daniel Lingua that capped the game. Sioux City’s Austin Drury locked it down with a quality start and despite the bullpen allowing the tying runs in the ninth, they finished strong in extras to secure the Explorers’ victory.
The game began with three straight scoreless frames between Sioux City starter Austin Drury and Cleburne starter Johnathon Tripp, as they each worked toward strong nights.
In the top of the fourth, the X’s broke the shutout with Sioux City’s Scott Ota’s picking up a sac fly off Cleburne’s Tripp, sending home Daniel Montano and giving the X’s a 1-0 lead.
From there, each pitcher traded scoreless frames again until the bottom of the seventh when Cleburne got on the board, tying the game 1-1 on Bret Boswell’s RBI single off Sioux City’s Drury. That finished the night for Drury, with Sioux City’s Zach Willeman taking over with runners on the corners and nobody out. Cleburne’s Jesus Lujano then hit a sacrifice fly off Willeman, driving in Groshans and giving the Railroaders a 2-1 lead.
The drama intensified in the top of the eighth as new Sioux City Explorer Justin Connell knotted it 2-2 with a one-out solo shot off Cleburne’s Tripp, although the Railroader starter completed the eighth before he was relieved.
In the top of the ninth, Cleburne’s Beau Burrows came in for Tripp, and after striking out Sioux City’s Daniel Lingua, Daniel Montano tripled to set up Nogowski. With the game tied and one away, Nogowski seemed to put the icing on the cake for the Explorers, launching a dinger to left field off Cleburne’s Burrows and giving the X’s a 4-2 advantage.
The Railroaders didn’t take that lightly, scoring in the bottom of the ninth with Shed Long’s hitting a two-out RBI double off Sioux City closer Kyle Marman (3-1), making it 4-3. The next batter, Marman threw a wild pitch, allowing Cleburne’s Korey Holland to come home and tie the game 4-4.
After a scoreless 10th, Sioux City’s Daniel Lingua gave the X’s a lead in the top of the 11th with an RBI ground-rule double off Cleburne reliever Mark Washington (3-1), sending home the extra-inning runner, Nick Shumpert, and giving the X’s a 5-4 lead. From there a Zac Vooletich single sent Lingua to third and Sioux City’s Nogowski followed with an RBI, sending him home with a groundout off Cleburne’s Washington.
In the bottom of the 11th, Sioux City’s Brandon Brosher relieved Marman with a chance to earn his first save of the season, and he retired all three batters he faced to end the game.
The Explorers will play game two of a four game series against the Cleburne Railroaders in Cleburne, Texas with a first pitch set for 7:06 p.m. Friday July 26.
