GARY, Ind. — A little dribbler off the bat of Brian Kolb stayed fair down the third base line to land the Gary SouthShore RailCats (19-29) a 5-4 win in 11 innings over the Saltdogs (19-29) at U.S. Steel Yard Saturday night.
With two outs and runners on the corners, Kolb swung on a Moises Melendez delivery and sent a little roller down the line. Jimmy Rohan had no choice but to hope it curled foul. It did not and it gave the ‘Cats a walk-off win in the series opener.
The Saltdogs took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 10th thanks to a brilliant takeout slide at second by David Espinosa, but Gary evened the score on a two-strike, shattered-bat single by Craig Maddox.
Nolan Nicholson (2-2) pitched a perfect inning of relief, striking out two to earn the win. Melendez (0-1) allowed a run in 2/3 of an inning to take the loss.
The RailCats outhit the ‘Dogs 17-10 but stranded 14 runners on base.
Espinosa and Mike Provencher each had multi-hit games. Joe Spiers scored three runs.
Lincoln committed an error, and have not played an errorless game since June 28.
The teams meet again Sunday afternoon at 2:10 p.m. for game two of a four-game set. Tommy Palica (1-4, 8.79) will pith for the Saltdogs. Radio coverage begins at 1:35 p.m. on KFOR 1240.