Sandies Score Seven in the Seventh to Clip Mustangs, 11-5

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

 SLOCUM – The Grapeland Sandies scored seven runs in a wild seventh inning comeback to defeat the Slocum Mustangs by a score of 11-5 and shore up their playoff seeding.

Trailing by a score of 5-4 as the seventh inning began, Tanner Prasatik opened the inning with a single to left. He moved to third after back-to-back walks to Josh “Bear” Ackley and Rick Frauenberger.

A wild pitch allowed Prasatik to come around and score and tie the game at five. Another pair of walks to Franco Rea and Blake Howard re-loaded the bases while a passed ball allowed Ackley to come home with the go-ahead run.

Grapeland tacked on five more runs in the inning to make the score 11-5 and then winning pitcher Parker Wilson slammed the door on the Mustangs as he retired the side in order to secure the victory for the Sandies.

The game started out with the Sandies threatening to break through in the first as Riley Chipman and Case Boyd reached base and moved to second and third before Taylor Lomax settled down on the mound to retire the next three batters he faced.

Parker Wilson was on the bump for Grapeland and he worked a 1-2-3 inning to keep the game scoreless after the first.

The Sandies plated a run in the second to take an early lead after Ackley led off with a walk. He stole second, advanced to third on Frauenberger’s ground out and crossed the dish on a passed ball.

The Mustangs came back in their half of the second to take a 4-1 lead. Lomax singled to center but was thrown out at second on a fielder’s choice that allowed Andrew Abernathy to reach first.

Abernathy moved to second when Kyle Garman was hit by a Wilson pitch and came around to score on Aron Teems single to center.

On the Teems’ hit, Garman advanced to third and came home when Cody Bitz looped a pitch into right making the score 2-1.

After the Sandies recorded the second out of the inning, Taylor Hunt drew a walk to load the bases.  A single from Joe Byrnes plated Teems and a wild pitch allowed Randy Guess to cross the dish to make the score 4-1 after two innings of play.

Grapeland knocked two runs off the lead when they came to bat in the third. Chipman reached on an error and promptly stole second. He moved to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on Wilson’s RBI single into right.

He moved to second on a walk and took third on an error. A walk to Frauenberger pushed Wilson across the plate to make the score 4-3, in favor of Slocum.

After a quiet fourth inning, the Sandies tied the game in the top of the fifth. Wilson led off with a double and moved to third when Dustin Ackley’s grounder was booted for an error. After Prasatik struck out, Josh Ackley hit into a fielder’s choice that allowed Wilson to come home and tie the game at four.

Lomax managed to hold the Sandies from there and turned the game over to the Mustang offense. Colton Peters led off the bottom of the fifth for Slocum and slapped a grounder that got by Dustin Ackley for an error. Lomax followed with a walk and Abernathy reached on an error by Wilson.

With the game tied at four and the bases loaded with no outs, the Mustangs appeared poised to blow the game wide open.

The Sandies had a different plan, however. Garman hit a shallow pop fly to Josh Ackley in center that was not deep enough to advance the runners.

Next, Wilson coaxed a pop fly from Teems to Chipman at short for the inning’s second out. Bitz was up next and on a 1-1 pitch he lofted a high fly down the third baseline. Dustin Ackley played the ball perfectly and tracked it down against the fence in foul territory to make a spectacular catch and end the inning with the score still tied at four.

The Sandies went quietly in the top half of the sixth but the Mustangs re-took the lead on back-to-back two-out doubles from Byrnes and Colton Peters. Wilson managed to strike out Lomax to end the inning, but the Mustangs now led 5-4.

As previously mentioned, the Sandies pounded out seven runs in their half of the seventh and then Wilson slammed the door by retiring the Mustangs in order to end the game.

Wilson went the distance for Grapeland and picked up the win. He gave up seven hits, five runs, struck out five and walked three.

Lomax was credited with a no decision after he pitched five and two third innings and gave up six hits, four runs (one earned), struck out four and walked four. Peters took the loss in relief.

At the plate, Grapeland was led by Wilson who was 3-5 with three RBI and three runs scored. Slocum was led by Byrnes who was 2-4 with one RBI and a run scored.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].

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