Clearwater Snaps Skid in Walkoff Win

WP: Camron Hill (1-0, 0.00)

LP: Brian Arias (0-2, 16.88)

BOX SCORE

CLEARWATER, FL – Heading into the ninth without a hit, Matthew Ferrara emerged as the walkoff hero in a 2-1 walkoff win for the Clearwater Threshers (4-4) in ten innings over the Tampa Tarpons (3-5) on Saturday night at BayCare Ballpark. Clearwater looks to even the series in the finale on Sunday afternoon.

Tampa got on the board first in the third inning, trading one-out hits to jump out to a 1-0 lead. The Threshers answered in the bottom of the fifth, which began with a leadoff single by Tyler Pettorini. After a wild pitch moved Pettorini to second, he advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt laid down by Griffin Burkholder. On a 0-2 count, the next batter, Alirio Ferrebus smacked a single down the first baseline into right field, plating Pettorini from third and tying the game at one.

The score remained deadlocked heading into the top of the ninth, with each team holding exactly six hits and one run. Clearwater erased the pressure of a one-out walk with a double play to end the top half of the inning. The next three batters went down in order, and the game went into extra innings. After a 1-2-3 top of the tenth inning, a fouled bunt ended up in the glove of the Tarpon’s catcher, resulting in a double play after the extra runner was thrown out at second.

With the Threshers’ backs against the wall, Ferrebus worked a four-pitch walk after overturning a strike one call with ABS. Will Vierling worked the count full and slapped a 3-2 pitch into centerfield to move the winning run into scoring position. Two pitches later, Matthew Ferrara blooped a single into right-center to plate Ferrebus and walk off the Tarpons for a 2-1 win.

Zuher Yousuf tossed 4.0 innings, allowing one run on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts in a no-decision. MT Morrissey tossed 3.0 scoreless innings, walking one and surrendering one hit with three strikeouts. Tyler Bowen struck out two and allowed one hit in 1.0 shutout frame. Gabe Craig tossed 1.0 scoreless inning, allowing one walk and striking out one. Camron Hill (1-0) earned the win in a scoreless and hitless tenth inning with one strikeout.

Morrissey is the third Threshers pitcher this week who struck out the side...Saturday night was the first extra inning game of the season for the Threshers...The game ended in Clearwater’s first walkoff win since the end of last season...Hill recorded his first win as a professional...Vierling recorded his first multi-hit game of the season...Ferrebus provided the go-ahead run in both wins for the Threshers so far this series...The Threshers conclude their first six-game home series against the Tampa Tarpons on Sunday, April 12...First pitch on Sunday afternoon will take place at 12:00 pm...You can purchase Threshers tickets at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457…The BayCare Ballpark Box Office is open Monday through Friday from 10 am – 5 pm...The box office will be open on Saturdays from 10 am - 3 pm...Visit our website at threshersbaseball.com for information on tickets and promotions for the Threshers season.