FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (August 22, 2017)
Contact: Jared Shlensky
[email protected]
Article Written by Austin Anderson, Broadcast & Media Relations Assistant 

Box Score

LINCOLN, NEB. – The Gary SouthShore RailCats (49-38) evened the 4-game set against the Lincoln Saltdogs (54-31) by a score of 10-9. With the victory, Gary is now 2-3 against the Saltdogs in the season series.

For the third consecutive game, the RailCats got on the board first with a tally in the first inning. Joey Havrilak reached on a single, advanced to third on an error by the pitcher, and then came home on a RBI single from Colin Willis to score his first run as a RailCat.

Lincoln evened up the score right away when Joe Robbins hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first for his second longball of the series. The Saltdogs took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the second inning as Brent Dean hit a two-run home run to make the score 3-1. Dean’s homer was the Saltdogs’ fifth home run in the first 11 innings of the series.

In the top of fourth, the RailCats added a run on a Chase Harris RBI single to plate Ryan Fitzgerald to make the score 3-2. The RailCats evened the score in the fifth inning when Willis singled in Havrilak for the second time in the ballgame.

The fifth-inning offensive surge was only beginning.  Kris Goodman followed with a two-run home run, his third of the road trip, to give the Gary the lead once again at 5-3. Cole Fabio recorded a RBI by reaching on a bases-loaded walk to give Gary a three-run cushion and then Alex Crosby made it a five-run game with a two-run RBI single. The lead was extended to six when Fabio scored on an error and later seven when Goodman plated Havrilak with a sac fly to make the score 10-3.

Lincoln began a comeback effort in the bottom of the sixth when Robbins doubled in Ibarra to cut the deficit to 10-4. Then in the eighth, the Saltdogs made things interesting. Robbins had his third RBI hit by driving in Tommy Mendonca with a single to cut the deficit to 10-5. The Saltdogs scored four more times with a pair of two-run RBI hits from Cesar Valera and Curt Smith to make it a one-run ballgame.

Jorge De Leon (8) righted the ship for the RailCats by recording the final five outs while allowing only one hit and more importantly no runs to record the save.

Jeff McKenzie (4-3) won his first start against his former team as he allowed five earned runs on nine hits while walking two and striking out two in seven innings of work to earn the victory.

Lincoln’s Derek Gordon (9-3) had a rare down night as he allowed eight earned runs, nine total, on 10 hits in 4.1 innings of work. Gordon struck out a pair and walked three batters in the loss.

Gary continues their four-game road series against Lincoln on Wednesday morning at 11:00 a.m. Southpaw Alex Gunn (7-5, 3.50) makes his league-high-tying 21st start against Saltdogs right-hander Shairon Mathis (3-1, 2.31).  

Gary returns home to U.S. Steel Yard on Friday, August 25th, for a three-game series vs. Kansas City at 7:10 p.m. Friday’s game is Stand Up to Cancer Night, features a Hat Giveaway and is another Fireworks Friday. The first 1,000 fans receive a hat, courtesy of Methodist Hospitals, while Fireworks and Stand Up to Cancer Night are presented by Fifth Third Bank.

Jared Shlensky and Austin Anderson bring you all 100 RailCats games this season on WEFM (95.9 FM) and online at railcatsbaseball.com. Fans can purchase tickets for RailCats home games by calling (219) 882-BALL or online at railcatsbaseball.com. The RailCats box office is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.