It will be win or go home for the Hoptown Hoppers Sunday night after Fulton’s Evan McCarthy slammed a two-run, walk-off home run to lead the host Railroaders to a 15-14 victory over the Hoppers late Saturday night at Lohaus Field.
The Hoppers needed only a win to advance to the Ohio Valley League championship series and looked well on their way with a 14-7 lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning.
However, the Railroaders began chipping away. Ben Kauffman’s grand slam home run drew Fulton within 14-11 after six.
The Railroaders added single runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth to cut the Hoppers’ lead to 14-13. A tremendous play by right fielder Easton Beaty saved at least one run in the eighth. He fielded a ground ball single and fired the ball to first base to nab Chase Cameron for the second out. Ethan Ramage then induced a ground out to end the inning with the tying runs in scoring position.
However, after the Hoppers’ third straight scoreless inning in the top of the ninth, Fulton had one last chance.
Ramage got Jacob Lott to fly out to center, but Kauffman lined a pitch back up the middle for a single.
Hoptown manager Chris Benne brought in former Christian County High School star and All-OVL pitcher Gage Montes to face McCarthy, who slammed the first pitch he saw over the short right field wall. It was the only lead of the night for the Railroaders.
Fulton’s win forces the “if necessary” game Sunday night at 6 p.m. at Tiger Field. The winner will advance to Tuesday’s championship series at Henderson, which swept past Madisonville with a 12-2 win on Saturday.
Airtime for Sunday’s game is at 5:45 p.m. on 95.3 The Farm and 953thefarm.com.
It was another big night for Brennen Gibson, who slammed a pair of two-run home runs for the Hoppers. He also drove in four runs and scored four times on a 3-for-5 night. Jordan Akins, Dom Hartman, Evan Jacob, Cole Reynolds, Gabe Eddington, and Deklan Riggs each had a pair of hits for Hoptown.
There were seven home runs hit in the game with Fulton recording five of those.
Freddie Londo pitched 1 2/3 innings of shutout baseball to pick up the pitching win. He struck out three and walked three.
Score by Innings:
Hoptown 250 034 000 – 14 17 2
Fulton 221 024 112 – 15 16 3
WP – Londo
LP – Montes
Leading Hitters: Hoptown – Gibson (2 HR, 1B, 4 RBI, 4 R), Akins (2B, 1B), Hartman (2B, 1B), Jacob (2 1B), Reynolds (2 1B), Scheidt (1B), Eddington (2 1B), Riggs (2 1B), Wall (2B).
Photos by Peyton Biaquis