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South Bend Walks it off in the 12th

A Wild Finish Ends Up With South Bend's Second Walkoff of the Year
(Max Thoma)
June 10, 2021

Box Score WP: Jose Albertos (1-0, 12.00 ERA) LP: Evan Reifert (2-1, BS (3), 4.50 ERA) A back-and-forth game resulted in a thrilling extra-inning finish as South Bend claimed their third straight victory in walkoff fashion. On the second pitch of the ballgame, David Hamilton belted his second homer of

Box Score

WP: Jose Albertos (1-0, 12.00 ERA)

LP: Evan Reifert (2-1, BS (3), 4.50 ERA)

A back-and-forth game resulted in a thrilling extra-inning finish as South Bend claimed their third straight victory in walkoff fashion.

On the second pitch of the ballgame, David Hamilton belted his second homer of the series over the right field wall to open up the scoring for Wisconsin. The Timber Rattlers added another run in the third on a Garrett Mitchell RBI double before South Bend got their offense going.

The bottom of the third started off with South Bend’s leadoff hitter, Edmond Americaan, who hit a 2-2 pitch that kissed the top of the wall for South Bend’s first run of the game and Americaan’s first homer as a South Bend Cub. It was so close to staying in the park that Americaan slid into third, thinking he had a triple off the wall before the umpire ruled that the ball had left the park.

That was just the start for South Bend.

The next five batters reached base, and the Cubs cleanup hitter Nelson Velazquez tied the game with an RBI single. The very next batter, Yonathan Perlaza laced a single into right field to plate two more and give South Bend a 4-2 lead.

Their lead wouldn’t last long, however, as Wisconsin came back in the fifth to score two more and tie the game up on a two-RBI single by Thomas Dillard.

Another multi-run inning helped South Bend get the lead back.

After a deep flyout from Bradlee Beesley, Edmond American kicked off a streak of five batters reaching base with a single. Two batters walked before Nelson Velazquez struck again with another decisive RBI single for the go-ahead run. After Velazquex was caught trying to advance to second, Yonathan Perlaza followed him up with another RBI single, driving in his third run of the game to make it 7-4.

Garrett Mitchell plated another run on a single in the seventh for Wisconsin, but Josue Huma got it back in the bottom half with an RBI double. Three pitches later Tyler Durna reached base for the fifth time, this time driving in two runs on an RBI base hit that grew South Bend’s lead to 10-5. Wisconsin scored on an Edmond Americaan error in the eighth, which proved crucial for the Timber Rattlers

It came down to the ninth, and Eury Ramos was pulled after walking Thomas Dillard with two outs in the inning. Samuel Reyes came on and allowed the next five runners to reach base, including a game-tying, two-out grand slam by Wisconsin’s Gabriel Garcia (1). That tied the score at ten to head into the bottom of the ninth.

The top of the order went down 1-2-3 to set up South Bend’s second extra innings showdown of the season.

No one scored in the tenth, but a Je’Von Ward single gave Wisconsin an 11-10 lead in the eleventh. South Bend escaped on what looked like a game-ending double play ball in the bottom half. Hayden Cantrelle threw what would have been the final out past the glove of Dillard, allowing Jake Washer to score the tying run from second and send the game to inning twelve.

Hayden Cantrelle scored on an RBI single from LG Castillo, but Jose Albertos rebounded by striking out three of the next four Timber Rattlers to keep the lead at 12-11. In the bottom half, it all came down to Jake Slaughter. With the bases loaded and two outs, Slaughter smacked a 1-1 pitch into left field, scoring Josue Huma easily.

Nelson Velazquez was waved around and slid in with the winning run for the Cubs second walkoff of the season.

Slaughter's walkoff hit was his second of the ballgame, going 2-5 on the day. Jose Albertos picked up his first victory for South Bend since June of 2019, allowing a run and striking out three in the top of the twelfth.

Next up: Bradford Deppermann (0-0, 1.69 ERA) vs Justin Bullock (1-1, 1.42 ERA in Low-A Carolina). First pitch is at 7:05 pm on Thirsty Thursday!