On a warm Father’s Day morning, the Dayton Diamondbacks were on the field in a make-up game against the Wolves at Gastineau Field, and the Wolves used a dramatic seventh inning two-out walk-off homerun to escape with a 4-3 victory.
“It was a good pitchers duel, both guys pitched well today,” said Diamondbacks manager Ray Franks. “Usually you have to go through the lineup at least once before you get an idea of what he is throwing.
The Wolves threated in the second inning, loading the bases on a walk to Scott Jones but he was forced out on a fielders’ choice. After a single and a walk loaded the bases, John Urse grounded out to leave the bases jammed and the game was scoreless.
The Diamonbacks jumped in front 3-0 in the fourth inning, as Lonnie Robinson singled, Andrew Choi then singled and Ben Carter doubled in two runs to give the Diamondbacks two runs and the lead. Carter then advanced to third base on a flyout before Ryan Earley drove in a third run.
Earley then knocked in a third run in the inning, pushing their lead to 3-0.
Two innings later, the Wolves tied the game at three with a big sixth inning, plating three runs of their own to send the game to the seventh inning tied.
“I knew this was a tough team we were playing today, they could come back on you in a heartbeat,” Franks said. “Their team has a lot of powerhitters, and with the four Barhorsts in the lineup, they are all good hitters. There are no slouches on their team.”
“Once they saw our pitchers a couple of times, they could start to get the hang of him. In the sixth inning, they loaded the bases, and they hit one to centerfield who misjudged the ball and it hurt us.”
After the Diamondbacks went down in the top of the seventh inning, it looked like the game was going to head to extra innings before Todd Barhorst ended it for the Wolves.
Barhorst launched the ball just over the wall in left field, giving the home team the walk-off victory.
“We have some quality ballplayers, but our hitting needs to come together tonight,” Franks said.
The Diamondbacks return to action on Sunday at Troy at 1:00 p.m. against the Miami County Cubs.
