Wingnuts rally in the 9th to beat Grand Prairie 8-7

{WICHITA, Kan.) — The Wichita Wingnuts defeated the Grand Prairie AirHogs 8-7 in 11 innings at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium on Friday night.

Down to their final out in the ninth, the Wingnuts rallied for three runs to tie it, completeing a comeback from an early six-run deficit.  The Wingnuts won the game in the 11th on Michael Sharp's two-out RBI single to short right field.

Trailing 7-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Jeff Christy drew a two out walk against right-hander Mike Bille.  After Steve Pearson singled up the middle, Michael Thompson drilled a double to left-center that scored Christy and put the tying runs in scoring position.  Eric Williams pinch-hit for Rene Ruiz and worked a full count before hitting a line drive single to center that scored Pearson and Thompson to tie the game.  Pearson, Thompson, and Williams all faced two-strike counts in the inning.

Facing right-hander Rod Scurry in the 11th, Christy doubled down the left field line with one out to put the winning run on base.  Scurry intentionally walked Pearson and then got Thompson to line out to third base.  Sharp fouled off three consecutive two-strike pitches before blooping a single in front of right fielder Robert Perry to score Christy from second as the winning run.

The AirHogs built a 6-0 lead after three and a half innings against starter Adam Cowart.  Aaron Garza doubled home Nook Logan in the top of the first to give the AirHogs a 1-0 lead.  Garza repeated himself in the top of the third, again scoring Logan, to make it 2-0.  Greg Porter and Perry added two-out RBI singles to extend the lead to 4-0.  Garza singled home two more runs in the top of the fourth to give the AirHogs a 6-0 lead.

The Wingnuts scored their first run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI fielder's choice by Steve Pearson.  Jorge Cortes's RBI single in the fifth trimmed the lead to 6-2, but Grand Prairie scored again in the sixth on a two-out single from David Espinosa.

With two outs and no one on base in the bottom of the seventh, Jackson Melian hit a groundball to second that Espinosa misplayed to keep the inning alive.  Mario Delgado then doubled just over the head of Logan in center field to bring the Wingnuts within four.  Ryan Patterson hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth to make it a three-run game, setting the stage for the Wingnuts ninth-inning rally.

Justin Dowdy earned the win in relief, stranding the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th in a scoreless inning.  Scurry took the loss.  Adam Cowart took a no-decision, allowing seven earned runs in 5.2 IP.  AirHogs' starter Ryne Tacker also took a no-decision, allowing four runs, three earned, in seven-plus innings.

The game marked the first time this season that the Wingnuts have won three straight games as well as the first time they have won in extra innings.  It was also the Wingnuts largest ninth-inning comeback in their history.

The series continues tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. with Gabe Medina taking on right-hander Greg Krause.