Magic Karp-et Ride: Braedon Karpathios Belts Walk-Off Homer on Princess Night

SAN ANTONIO (May 9, 2026) — A magical night at The Wolff was capped off with a Braedon Karpathios walk-off HR in the bottom of the ninth, his second walk-off hit of the season, for a splendid 3-2 San Antonio Missions (10-22) win over the Midland RockHounds (20-12). Karpathios trotted around the bases to set off the postgame sparklers to close the storybook ending on Princess Night.

Missions starter Eric Yost walked a pair of RockHounds in the first inning before a Josh Kuroda-Grauer plate appearance as the RockHounds’ RBI leader looked to cash in some runs off runners on first and second base with one away. However, San Antonio’s Carson Tucker made an otherworldly sliding catch to put a stop on any more RockHounds reaching base in the first.

Yost started brewing some magic on Princess Night in the second with two strikeouts after a Ryan Lasko lineout for a 1-2-3 inning of his own. Leary conjured up a double to disrupt Yost’s magic momentarily in the third before Colby Halter whiffed on Yost’s third K to close out the inning.

RockHounds starter Corey Avant put away the Missions high-average producers of Tucker, Ethan Salas and Leandro Cedeño with ease in the first. Avant struck out Tucker and Cedeño while adding one more putout of Luis Verdugo in the second inning as Avant cruised by with consecutive 1-2-3 innings. Avant smacked some fairy dust off Kai Roberts’s princess-themed jersey in the third before continuing his evil ways against the Missions by picking off Roberts at first base as the contest remained scoreless after three.

Kuroda-Grauer continued his hot hitting streak against the Missions in this series with a single and another stolen bag to lead off the fourth. Although Yost fanned two more in the inning, left-handed hitter Shance McGuire hit a dinger over the right field wall to put a dent onto the fairytale night as the RockHounds broke open the deadlock to lead 2-0.

The top of the lineup for San Antonio worked wonders in the fourth to load the bases on Avant with no outs to create an advantageous situation for power hitter Tirso Ornelas. Ornelas welcomed Avant to his whole new world by knocking in his third double in consecutive contests to tie up the ball game. Avant cast his last two strikeout spells of the contest to keep the game tied at two runs apiece, but the damage had been done.

Bullpens and fielders kept busy through four even innings with two doubles from each team. The Missions’ bullpen struck out two batters while Midland’s put down four as a mixture of lineouts, groundouts and flyouts held both squads at a stalemate after the fourth as offenses struggled to produce runs.

After an Ornelas ground out, Verdugo struck out which led to many expectations of possible extra innings with two away in the bottom of the ninth. However, all it took was faith, trust and a little bit of pixie dust off the bat of Karpathios as he absolutely crushed a cookie over the center field wall of The Wolff to bring 5,789 fans to their feet for his second walk-off hit of the year. It was a shining, shimmering splendid fairytale ending for the Missions in a 3-2 victory.

Up Next:

The Missions and RockHounds conclude their six-game series on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. Celebrate Mother's Day at the Wolff! Fans can enjoy a special day dedicated to moms, presented by James Avery, including a special charm giveaway while supplies last. The fun continues after the final out! Kids are invited onto the field to run the bases following the game. Catch all the action on Country Legends KKYX, 680 AM, 104.9 FM and kkyx.com. Tickets are available at samissions.com or by calling 210-675-7275.

The San Antonio Missions are the Double-A affiliate for the San Diego Padres. The Missions were established in 1888 and have brought affordable family fun to the Alamo City for more than 120 seasons. The 13-time Texas League champions play their home games at Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium. For more information and tickets, call 210-675-7275 or visit samissions.com.