MARSHALS SHUT OUT BOMBERS, COPPELL WINS IN NINTH
After too much rain in Mineral Wells, the Steam packed up and moved their original home game to Wichita Falls only to be handed their 29th loss of the season. Coppell defeated the Deputies in dramatic fashion to inch into first place, a half a game in front of Brazos Valley.
WICHITA FALLS 4, MINERAL WELLS 3
Wichita Falls starter Tyler Lyons carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, then nearly lost the game. But his teammates came to the rescue in the bottom of the seventh as the Roughnecks claimed a 4-3 victory over the Mineral Wells Steam Thursday night at Hoskins Field. Wichita Falls, at 24-16, remained on top in the Rogers Hornsby Division with the win. Mineral Wells dropped to 11-29 for the season. Lyons struckout 12 Mineral Wells players in his seven innings, while allowing three hits and the three runs. In the seventh, after walking the leadoff batter, Lyons bid for a no-hitter was dashed by the Steam's Bo Coffman who lined a single through the hole at short. Danny Tarleton laid down a bunt that settled just fair to load the bases when disaster struck. Josh Vander Hey bunted back to Lyons who then overthrew catcher Marc Hyndsman on an attempt for a double play. The error allowed two runs to score and tie the game. Kevin Bedford hit a rope to centerfield that skipped under the fence for a ground rule double that allowed only one run to score. Lyons settled down to get the last two batters, including Kurt Waid -- his 12th strikeout victim. In the bottom of the seventh, R.J. Harris reached on a fielder choice, then stole second. Travis Dunson singled Harris to third before Chris Richburg hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 3. Danny Slinkman followed with a single to center field, moving Dunson to third. Slinkman rounded first wide and Steam third baseman Bedford fired the ball to first where Dylan Graham mishandled it allowing Dunson to score with the go-ahead run. The Roughneck bullpen did the rest as Lyons went to 2-2 on the year and Matt Shepherd picked up his first save. Steam starter Brandon Moore took the loss, falling to 0-7.
MCKINNEY 5, BRAZOS VALLEY 0
In the final regular season home game of the rain filled 2007 season, the McKinney Marshals defeated the Brazos Valley Bombers 5-0. Six McKinney pitchers (Daniel Meadows, Mark McCain, Austin Coan, Terry Salter, Drew Zizinia and Michael Johnson) combined for a one-hit shutout. The scoring got started in the 1st as Brandon Glover of the Marshals got a 2 run double with the bases loaded McKinney added 2 more in the 5th as Brett Nommensen and Tyler Hohman both got RBI singles to add to lead 4-0 over the Bombers. In the 7th Bryan Holaday managed a RBI walk with the bases loaded to add another run making the lead 5-0.
COPPELL 7, DUNCANVILLE 6
Coppell gets another one in the win column in dramatic fashion as they defeat the Duncanville Deputies 7-6. The Copperheads jumped on top early when Brandon Belt smashed a 2-run home run in the first inning scoring Jonas Fester. After Coppell put up two more in the fifth, Duncanville answered with back-to-back three run innings in the sixth and seventh to put them in the lead 6-4. The Copperheads fight back with a sac fly by Mikey Horn and an RBI single by Matt McGuirk to tie the game in the eighth. Belt, who finished the night 2-for-4 with three RBI, became the hero in the bottom of the ninth ripping a game-winning RBI double to score Fester. Derek Verhagan was tabbed the winning pitcher after pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
