SALTDOGS BASEBALL: Lincoln's Win Streak Snapped on Walk-off Single Against Cleburne

Courtesy of AlphaMedia, USA-Lincoln.

CLEBURNE, TX–(News Release July 4)–Pitcher Abdallah Aris allowed one run over seven innings, but Hill Alexander’s walk-off single handed the Lincoln Saltdogs a 5-4 loss to the Cleburne Railroaders at La Moderna Field on Tuesday night.

Alexander’s walk-off single handed Lincoln (24-23) its first loss in six games and the Railroaders (27-22) evened the series with a rubber match Wednesday night. Aris allowed one run on three hits in the 1st inning. Jose Sermo made it 1-0 with an RBI single, but Aris responded by retiring the next 14 batters he faced and facing the minimum over five straight innings from the 2nd to the 7th.

The ‘Dogs tied the game when C Luke Roskam hit a two-out solo homer in the 4th. Lincoln took a lead in the 8th inning. Connor Panas reached on an error and went from first to third when Drew Devine singled to right on a hit-and-run. Nick Anderson made it 2-1 with an RBI single and Yanio Perez later made it 3-1 on a sacrifice fly.

The Railroaders scored three times to make it 4-3 in the 8th inning. Steffon Moore allowed four walks and hit one batter before Matt Cronin took over in a 1-0 count with the bases loaded and two outs in a tie game. Cronin eventually walked LF Alex Jackson to make it 4-3.

The ‘Dogs then walked four times against Nick Gardewine in the 9th inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Anderson walked on four pitches to tie the game at four.

Cronin returned for the 9th inning. After a one-out walk and single, Cronin struck out Sermo for the second out of the inning. Alexander then blooped a single to shallow right scoring PR Jarel McDade to end the game.

Moore allowed three runs in 2/3rds of an inning, while Cronin allowed one run over one inning.

Panas singled in the 1st inning and now has hits in 13 straight games – the longest for a Saltdog since Christian Ibarra had a 14-game hitting streak in 2019.

The series concludes Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:06 p.m. and pregame coverage is set for 6:35 on KFOR FM 101.5/1240 AM.