Woo Sox Win Seesaw Series Finale
WORCESTER - An unforecasted heavy snowfall overnight Friday of more than four inches blanketed Polar Park and forced the postponement of Saturday's matchup between the Columbus Clippers and Worcester Red Sox. Thankfully, a warm front that gave us a game time temperature of 44 degrees, was more than enough to
WORCESTER - An unforecasted heavy snowfall overnight Friday of more than four inches blanketed Polar Park and forced the postponement of Saturday's matchup between the Columbus Clippers and Worcester Red Sox. Thankfully, a warm front that gave us a game time temperature of 44 degrees, was more than enough to melt away the snow to allow the series finale between the two clubs on Sunday.
Worcester grabbed their first lead of the series since the night cap of Wednesday's doubleheader on Vaughn Grissom's RBI single. His liner through the middle put the Woo Sox on top, 1-0, after one.
That lead held until the top of the fourth when Juan Brito decided to tie the game himself. On the seventh pitch of the at bat, the Clippers first baseman launched a 373 foot solo home run over the tall right field wall, into the last row of seats at Polar Park.
Another day, another Brito bomb💣
— GuardsInsider (@GuardsInsider) April 13, 2025
The @CLBClippers lead the WooSox 2-1 in the bottom of the 4th. pic.twitter.com/2DEBGX1nas
The tie was broken as the inning continued, Will Wilson walked and Johnathan RodrÃguez singled to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Micah Pries hit a hard grounder up the middle, but right into the Worcester shift. Shortstop Marcelo Mayer scooped it up, stepped on second, and fired to first for the tailor-made 6-3 double play. Wilson scampered home on the play, however, giving Columbus the 2-1 lead.
That lead was short lived as back-to-back doubles by Trayce Thompson and Nate Eaton in the bottom half of the fourth knotted the game at two.
The back-and-forth on the scoreboard would continue in the fifth. Juan Brito's second RBI of the game regained the lead for Columbus, his sacrifice fly made the score 3-2. Nick Sogard then put Worcester right back in front with a two-run double.
A quiet sixth inning led to the Clippers tying the game in the top of the seventh. Milan Tolentino singled to lead off the frame. He then stole second, his fourth successful grab of the year, and scored on Will Brennan's RBI single.
Kody Huff had a pair of RBI singles in Friday night's win, his second hit of Sunday's game matched half of Friday's effort, singling home Will Wilson to break the 4-4 tie.
Ryan Webb (L, 0-1) was relatively flawless since entering the game on the mound, he faced the minimum in the sixth and the seventh, but ran into trouble in the eighth. Saturday's scheduled starter surrendered a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases for Nathan Hickey, who tied the game again for Worcester with a sacrifice fly. A double steal proved pivotal as Phillip Sikes doubled down the leftfield line, scoring a pair. Roman Anthony followed with an RBI single just past the diving Will Wilson, scoring Sikes, giving the Woo Sox an 8-5 lead heading to the ninth.
Late inning dramatics have been the Clipper M.O. throughout the spring, that unfortunately would not be the case on Sunday. They were retired in order by Nick Burdi (W, 1-0), giving Worcester the win in the series finale.
Columbus takes three of five in the series and heads home atop the International League West Division standings at 9-4. Worcester improves to 5-8 on the year. The Clippers return to Huntington Park on Tuesday, April 15th, to host the Louisville Bats on a world famous Tansky Tuesday Dime-A-Dog Night! Tickets are available by visiting ClippersBaseball.com.