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MOOSIC — Wow.
Abiatal Avelino was down to his last strike.
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders were down two runs and there were two men on for the second baseman.
The No. 9 hitter had nothing to show for in his first three at-bats. In fact, Avelino only got the ball out of the infield once. But then everything changed.
Facing a 3-2 count, Avelino fouled off a pitch from Syracuse reliever Christopher Smith.
Avelino had another chance, and this time he made the right-hander pay.
The second baseman went opposite field for his first home run of the season, a walk-off, three-run shot to deliver the RailRiders a 6-5 season-opening victory over the Chiefs.
“We waited a little long, but we got to the ninth and Avelino, he was starting to string some hits together which was really good,” RailRiders manager Bobby Mitchell said. “Avelino actually hits the ball really good the other way. I didn’t realize he had that much power the other way, though. It came at a great time for everybody. It was a great opener for us and a great opener for the fans, I’m sure.”
Neither Mitchell nor Avelino were sure if the second baseman had hit the ball out of the park or not. It didn’t help that it was raining and visibility wasn’t that great.
It wasn’t until Avelino stepped on third base and Mitchell told him it went over a fence that Avelino realized he had hit the game-winning home run. In fact, Mitchell was thinking of sending Avelino home for an inside-the-park home run until the first-base umpire signaled the round-tripper.
“I’m ready every at-bat. The team, same thing. I’m trying to win every at-bat and that happened,” Avelino said. “I put in my mind, ‘OK, Avelino, you’re the man for the moment. So be ready, be ready, be ready’ and that’s it.”
The RailRiders were down 5-1 heading into the final frame with little momentum, but in a span of seven batter the RailRiders would secure the victory.
Cody Asche led the inning off with a double to deep center and then a pair of one-out walks from Kyle Higashioka and Ryan McBroom loaded the bases for Billy Flemming. The RailRiders designated hitter made it a three-run game with a sacrifice fly to center that drove in Asche and moved Higashioka over to third. Then Zack Zehner continued to build the momentum with his second hit of the game, an RBI single up the middle, before setting the table for Avelino.
The RailRiders’ ninth-inning surge softened the blow for Chance Adams, who gave up five runs, and four earned, on seven hits.
“It was an awesome comeback win. We were fighting until the end,” said the starting pitcher. “For (Avelino) to come off and hit that home run in that big spot, it was pretty cool to watch and I was really excited for him and everyone else.”
While Adams struggled early in his outing, giving up an RBI double to Irving Falu and three-run home run to Andrew Stevenson for a four-run second inning, he was able to rebound for a perfect third inning and pitched two-thirds of an inning in the fourth before he was pulled. The 23-year-old right-hander was able to strike out five.
“I felt all right. Just didn’t execute very well,” Adams said. “(My slider) was all right. I’d like it a little faster. It was a little down. On that homer, I was trying to get it for a strike and I should have buried it. Just one mistake.”
RailRiders 6, Syracuse 5
Syracuse`AB`R`H`BI
Robles cf`5`0`1`0
Stevenson lf`3`1`1`3
Marmolejos 1b`4`0`1`0
Sierra rf`4`0`1`0
De Aza dh`4`0`0`0
Dominguez 3b`4`0`0`0
Kieboom c`3`1`2`0
Sanchez ss`4`1`2`0
Falu 2b`4`2`2`1
Totals`35`5`19`4
RailRiders`AB`R`H`BI
Peterson cf`4`0`1`0
Torres`4`0`0`0
Asche 3b`4`1`1`0
Ford 1b`4`0`0`0
Higashioka c`2`2`1`1
McBroom rf`3`1`0`0
Fleming dh`2`0`0`0
Lehner lf`4`1`2`1
Avelino 2b`4`1`1`3
Totals`31`6`6`6
E: Higashioka (1); DP: Chiefs 0, RailRiders 2; LOB: Chiefs 6, RailRiders 4; 2B: Falu (1), Asche (1); HR: Stevenson (1), Higashioka (1), Avelino (1); SF: Fleming; SB: Robles.
Syracuse`040`100`000 — 5
RailRiders`000`100`005 — 6
Visitor`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Voth`5`3`1`1`1`6
Goforth`2`0`0`0`1`2
Torres`1`0`0`0`0`1
Collins`0.1`1`3`3`2`1
Smith (BS, 1)(L, 0-1)`0.1`2`2`2`0`0
Home`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Adams`3.2`7`5`4`2`5
Espinal`2.1`1`0`0`1`0
Perez`1`1`0`0`0`0
Coshow`1`1`0`0`0`2
Feyereisen (W, 1-0)`1`0`0`0`0`1
Umpires: Jeremy Riggs, HP; Jansen Visconti, 1B; Chris Graham, 2B; Travis Godec, 3B.
Time: 2:53; Att: 9,327.