The Time the Aces Rallied for Nine in the Ninth to Win It

It was looking bleak quite frankly, Fresno put up a six-spot in the top of the fourth inning to make it 12-2. The stadium had emptied, the broadcast became flat, and everyone working at the ballpark just wanted to call it a mercy so they could go home.

But that’s the thing about baseball, you need 27 outs before you can go home. You can’t run out the clock, though, on April 27, 2019, the Grizzlies really wished they could have.

This is the story of how the Aces pulled off the largest comeback in team history.

The tale picks up in the bottom of the fourth inning, Reno scratched across two seemingly meaningless runs on a Wyatt Mathisen RBI groundout and a Tim Locastro RBI double to make the game 12-4.

Things quieted again for the Aces as they went scoreless in the fifth and sixth. And to add insult to injury in the seventh inning, Fresno’s second basemen Jacob Wilson sent a solo shot over the wall to bring the score to 13-4 Grizzlies. It was now a “two-possession ballgame.” It would have been time to run out the clock in football, or drain the shot clock in basketball, maybe engage in some keep away in you’re playing soccer - but none of those scenarios apply in baseball.

The Aces went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh, and the game crept into the eighth inning already past three hours of play. In the top of the frame, Fresno’s third basemen Jake Noll singled to give the Grizzlies their 20th hit of the game, it would be their last. In the bottom of the frame, Wyatt Mathisen made the game 13-5 on an uneventful sacrifice fly to score Yasmany Tomas.

Finally, the moment everyone in the stadium was waiting for – the ninth inning. The Grizzlies held up their end of the deal going down in order in the top of the ninth. Now it was the Aces turn, due up was the pitcher spot in Braden Shipley, then Tim Locastro and Domingo Leyba. In front of them? A 13-5 deficit.

What followed next was a comeback for the ages, normally saved for Hollywood. (We know this was a Pacific Coast League day game in April, but in a vacuum, it was an extremely epic moment to watch – so let us pretend it was meant to be seen in a movie, thank you for understanding)

The bottom of the ninth began with Andrew Aplin pinch-hitting for Shipley, a person that would later play a very important role in this Hollywood script.

Aplin walked, then took second on a defensive indifference during Locastro’s at-bat. Moving up to second base would prove useful as Locastro singled in Aplin a few pitches later to bring the score to 13-6.

Jokes began to fly, “seven more of those and we're in business,” or, “don’t call it a comeback.” Believe me, no one was calling it a comeback, especially after Leyba grounded out and the club was down to their final two outs of the game.

Locastro moved to second base on the ground up. Next up, the Pacific Coast League’s most feared hitter, Kevin Cron who singled off the center field wall to score Locastro (Yes, you read that write). All the RBI did was add to the disgust of stadium employees who just wanted to go home. 13-7 Grizzlies at this point.

This would have been a really good time for the Grizzlies to run out the hypothetical clock we keep mentioning, but again, not possible. They now were entering the meat of the Aces order.

Yasmany Tomas followed up Cron’s single with a base knock of his own to put runners on first and second. Travis Snider came to the plate and doubled in Cron and advance Tomas to third base. 13-8 Grizzlies.

Tyler Heineman was up next, who already had three hits in the game. The catcher proceeded to add his fourth hit of the contest, a hustle infield single to the shortstop to score Tomas and make the score 13-9. Snider advanced to third base on the play.

“Don’t call it a comeback,” people continued to say.

With runners on the corners, RBI machine Wyatt Mathisen singled to make the game 13-10. Runners were now on first and second with the tying run at the plate, Kelby Tomlinson.

At this point, stadium employees were just hoping the game just didn’t go into extra innings. They complained about the contest pushing past four hours if that were to happen.

Tomlinson worked a walk to load the bases for an unlikely hero – Andrew Aplin, who started the rally with a walk about thirty minutes prior.

Aplin had entered the game on April 27 batting .111 on the season to go with three RBIs.

He stepped to the plate with the bases loaded to face one of the Washington Nationals’ top prospect Tanner Rainey who regular can touch triple-digits on the radar gun. (Side note: Rainey made nine appearances for the Nationals in the postseason during their 2019 World Series run. Point is, he’s good)

Weird things happen in baseball, add this to the category.

On a 1-2 pitch, in an empty stadium, in-front of the few Aces fans that chose to stay, Aplin turned on an inside fastball…

“Swing and a drive, deep to right field, WAYYY BACK, IT’S GONE!!!!,” Alex Margulies of Nevada Sports Net exclaimed. A simple call, but one that was needed to let the moment breathe.

A walk-off grand slam! CALL IT A COMEBACK. The Aces won 14-13 thanks to the most unlikeliness of heroes, Andrew Aplin. The outfielder scampered around the bases acting like he been there before. But in reality, no one had been there before. It was the largest comeback in Aces history. Nine runs in the ninth inning to win it – It’s okay to smile a little.

Aplin was mobbed at home plate in celebration followed by a shower of red Gatorade courtesy of his teammates. It was incredibly cool to witness.

It may have been just a PCL game in April, but for the people who stuck around through the end that day, they’ll remember that game forever.