Third baseman Nick Hamilton gets ready to put the tag on Cameron Squires as catcher Mike Grieco throws him out trying to steal.

Matt McAllester takes a swing at a pitch early in the game on Sunday.

By STEVE WALKER
swalker@MorningJournal.com

You got to love a walk-off win.

Playing in their fourth game of the season and third in a row at the Pipe Yard, the Lorain County Ironmen overcame a 4-1 deficit with a ninth-inning rally to defeat the Butler Blue Sox, 5-4 in a walk-off win in front of 116 fans on Sunday.

"Our guys don’t quit," Ironmen head coach Eric Cormell said. "Sometimes opportunities come your way and you take advantage of them and you come out on top. It was impressive to see how hungry the guys really wanted to win that game at the end.

"It’s going to be a long season, but when you fight hard and you never say die, you’re going to win a lot more games than you lose."

Jeffrey Cola started things off in the ninth with a triple that splashed on the right field warning track’s pond of water. He scored on a RBI double to left center by pinch-hitter Billy Urban, to make it 4-2.

"It’s really cool, it really gets us pumped up," Cola said. "Especially going into a long week on the road. Coming back in these conditions, with the rain coming down, really gets us going and gets us amped up for the coming week.

"At any point in baseball, especially in the bottom of the ninth, you get a couple hits together and when I led that off, all the guys get up and get pretty excited. I was amped up at third and it’s pretty cool. That’s what baseball is all about."

Admiral King graduate Matt Toth came on to pinch hit for catcher Mike Grieco and drew a walk. After a failed sacrifice bunt by James DiBiasio, Evan Melendez was hit-by-pitch, loading the bases with one out. Matt McAllester then hit a line shot to left field that the left fielder appeared to catch, but dropped it, allowing Toth to score. In the meanwhile, DiBiasio was thrown out on a force out at third base. That set up the heroics as Tony Brunetti lined a single to left, scoring Melendez to tie the game at four. McAllester made a hard turn at third, but slipped to the ground, which drew a throw home from left fielder Logan Uxa, who overthrew the catcher and McAllester got back up and scampered home with winning run.

"When I got up, I was just trying to put the ball in play," McAllester said. "(On the winning run) I was trying to get a big secondary lead, because I knew I was the winning run. On the crack of the bat, I was just going to bust it as hard as I could if I had the opportunity. So when Tony hit a line drive, I busted it. The left fielder was playing really shallow and so coach held me up because I would’ve been hosed at home. When I came around, I slipped, I got back up, coach started telling me ‘Watch the throw, watch the throw, see what happens’. (The ball) got by the catcher and I just put my head down and took off running."

Things didn’t start the Ironmen’s way in the first as Butler’s first two batters reached base on a walk and a throwing error by third baseman Nick Hamilton. Zach Duggan, who led off with a walk, scored when Austin Wulf reached on Hamilton’s error. Wulf then scored on a RBI single by Tyler Sciacca to make it 2-0. Ironmen starter Joe Burnett struggled with his command and walked the bases loaded, but then induced Max Vogel into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.

The Blue Sox added two runs in the third on a pair of two-out clutch hits by Tyler Sciacca and Uxa. Sciacca hit an RBI double to score Jon Craycraft, who singled. Uxa followed with an RBI single to score Sciacca to make it 4-0. Vogel then hit a shot to the right field corner for a double, but a heads-up play and on-point throw by Melendez to second baseman DiBiasio who threw a strike to catch a sliding Uxa at home as Grieco applied the tag for the inning-ending out.

The Ironmen were held to one run in five innings by 6-foot-7 power right-hander Ben Ballantine, of the University of Michigan, as he allowed six hits and struck out five before giving way to Kirk Roeder, of Ripon College (Wisconsin). Roeder held the Ironmen at bay for the next three innings, before Butler brought on its closer Ryan Thompson, who imploded.

The Ironmen cut a four-run deficit to three after a seven-minute rain delay in the fifth inning. McAllester stroked a two-out RBI single to left field, scoring DiBiasio, who reached on a fielder’s choice. Brunetti then hit a gaper into left center, but Uxa was there to make the inning-ending catch.

Grieco showed his arm strength behind the plate as he threw out three would-be base stealers in the game. He gunned out the speedy Cameron Squires trying to steal third base in the second inning, fired a strike to DiBiasio at second base to get a sliding Wulf in the third and then got Squires as he was trying to steal second base in the fourth.

The bullpen did their job after starter Joe Burnett pitched five innings, allowing the only four runs of the game. Western Reserve graduate Brandon Cantrill came on to pitch the next three scoreless innings before giving way to Patrick Mulligan, who pitched a scoreless ninth.

With the win, the Ironmen improved to 2-2 and head on the road to play the Slippery Rock Sliders (Monday), Beckley Miners (Tuesday and Wednesday) and the Butler Blue Sox (Thursday), before returning home on Friday against the Blue Sox.