Walk off winner once more for the Tourists
May 8, 2006 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Asheville Tourists News Release
For the second time in two days the Tourists win a close one with a walk-off RBI to extend Asheville's unbeaten run to five games, tying the season high, and moving into second place in the standings above their opponents.
This time the winning run came in the bottom of the ninth, eliminating the need for extra innings, for which the 1309 crowd in chilly conditions were most grateful!
It could have been a different story in the ninth though, as the Riverdogs loaded the bases against James Burok. The tall right hander stuck to his task well though, striking out Austin Jackson, and causing a fly out to left field by Reggie Corona to strand all the runners, setting up the win.
The Dogs were the first on the board, Joseph Muich hitting a second inning solo home run over the shoulder of Travis Becktel in left field, and then inthe fourth doubling their advantage, two sacrifice fly balls bringing home Jose Tabata, who had doubled to lead off the inning.
The Tourists didn;t open up offensively until the fifth inning, when Nelson Robledo earned an RBI single, bringing home Christopher Cook (who doubled to lead off the inning). Robledo then crossed the plate hiself on a wild pitch to level the scores.
Back came Charleston in the sixth, scoring two runs off two hits, but the home faithful didn;t have to wait very long for a response. Three consecutive one-out singles from Becktel, Garner, and Cook, plus a ground out RBI from Robledo combined to level the game at four runs each.
That's the way it stayed until the very end, with the tension mounting throughout the last three innings. In the seventh and eighth innings only one batter from either team touched base, and that was a walk offered to Travis Becktel.
Then came the drama of the ninth inning which gave the Tourists the win. After Burok had held his nerve, John Restrepo was patient enough to earn a walk to first base off a full count. Eric Young Jr laid down a sacrifice bunt to put the runner in scoring position. Daniel Carte then also drew a walk off of pitcher Zachary Kroenke to put runners on first and second with only one out. And then up stepped Chris Nelson to line drive the ball into left field, the ball being deep enough for Restrepo to fly round third and just beat out the throw at home plate to end the game.
This series finishes tomorrow evening with the first pitch at 7.05pm. Don't forget, if you have a ticket for the now defunct Asheville Ghostriders Arena Football Team, you can exchange that ticket tomorrow for a General Admission ticket at no extra cost!
Come on down and se two of the best teams in the league battle it out!
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South Atlantic League Stories from May 8, 2006
- Walk off winner once more for the Tourists - Asheville Tourists
- Crawdads Offense Erupts in 11-2 Win over West Virginia - Hickory Crawdads
- Legends Stomp Grasshoppers - Lexington Legends
- Captains' rally falls short - Lake County Captains
- Drive Rally to Beat Braves, 5-3 - Greenville Drive
- Ninth inning rally falls short as Gnats drop fourth straight - Savannah Sand Gnats
- Suns offense wakes up for 5-2 win - Hagerstown Suns
- Power road trip begins with loss - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Columbus Catfish Named South Atlantic League Pitcher Of The Week - Columbus Catfish
- C.J. Henry returns from disabled list - Charleston RiverDogs
- Suns' "You've Been Ticketed" begins - Hagerstown Suns
- Columbus Cruises to 10-1 Win - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- West returns from DL - Greensboro Grasshoppers
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