For the third straight night, the Ironmen went into the 9th inning tied at the Pipe Yard.

The first was ended by the weather. The second was a walk-off fielder's choice.

The third was a 15- inning marathon that ended with an RBI single by Evan Melendez to give the Ironmen a 3-2 victory over the DeKalb County Liners.

"It was a low pitch, so it was easy to drop the barrel of the bat on it," Melendez said.

Nick Hamilton led off the bottom of the 15th with a bunt single, then Nick Grieco sacrificed him to second.

Melendez, with first base open, ended the game with a hard single that fell just short of the center fielder's glove.

"I wasn't exactly posing the biggest threat with during the game," said Melendez, who had two hits in seven at bats before his final plate appearance. "I didn't know if they would walk me, but I knew they wouldn't give me a good pitch to hit."

Ironmen (5-6) starter Aaron Hilt gave up one run in the first inning but was sharp for all of his six innings on the mound. The right- hander struck out six and walked two.

He scattered six hits and did not allow a runner to reach second base after the second inning.

Lorain County got its first two runs in the third inning. Tony Brunetti lined a single to right, and an error by DeKalb County's Matt Lamore allowed Melendez to score from second.

The single would have been hit too hard for Melendez to score, but Lamore overran the ball on his running charge.

Then with Matt McAllester on third, Brunetti tried to steal second but halted halfway. McAllester broke for home during the ensuing rundown and was able to reach the plate before the tag.

Brunetti advanced to second on a fielder's interference by second baseman Joe Long.

DeKalb County (1-5) tied the game with a run in the seventh inning.

With one out, Trevor Popp hit a soft grounder between first and second that couldn't be fielded in time. Leadoff hitter Kenton Parmley drove Popp home with a double down the left field line.

Chris Barnett, who relieved Hilt in the seventh, got Joe DeBernardis to pop out to center with a runner on third to end the inning.

The Ironmen bullpen shut out the Liners from the seventh inning on. Five pitchers combined for nine innings, giving up three hits with nine strikeouts.

"It wasn't ideal to use as many guys as we did," Ironmen manager Eric Cormell said, "but we ended up coming through and getting the win. So we'll take it."

Long started the 11th inning by getting hit by a Phil Brua fastball and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt.

Popp hit a slow grounder to first and just beat Brua to the bag, moving the runners up a base.

But the righty side-armer got out of jam by getting Beckmann to ground to second.

Brua also pitched a perfect 12th and scoreless 13th.

Billy Urban pitched the top of the 14th and struck out Ryan O'Gara with the bases loaded to keep the game tied.

DeKalb County starter Cody Hallahan went 8 1/3 innings, striking out eight and allowing just five hits.

Notes

• Shortstop Billy Urban was named to the 2010 Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American team for his play at St. Bonaventure this season. He had a .337 batting average and 44 RBI, which were both second best on the team.

• Lorain County has tonight off and will play at home against the Butler Bluesox at 7:05 p.m. at the Pipe Yard. The team will see the Indians game today on their day off.