MOOSIC, PA – The Charlotte Knights unbelievably delivered their largest come-from-behind win of the season in Tuesday’s series opener against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. The Knights trailed 8-1 heading into the eighth inning and somehow scratched and clawed their way to a 9-8 victory in ten innings.
The improbable comeback began with three runs in the eighth. Junior Perez hit a two-run homer and Rikuu Nishida worked a bases-loaded walk. Despite the strong frame, Charlotte still had a lot of work left to do in the ninth.
Down to their final three outs and still trailing by four, the Knights loaded the bases courtesy of two hit-by-pitches and a Perez infield single. Mario Camilletti cleared the bases with a three-run double and brought Charlotte to within a run at 8-7. Two batters later, Andy Weber leveled the game with an RBI single.
Jaden Woods took the mound in the bottom of the ninth and delivered a scoreless inning to force extras. In the tenth, the Knights plated their automatic runner on a Ryan Galanie sacrifice fly. It was Charlotte’s first lead since Caden Connor pushed the game’s initial run across with an RBI single in the top of the second.
Garrett Schoenle was tasked with holding the one-run advantage in the bottom of the tenth inning. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre put their automatic runner at second base and Schoenle made sure he was left stranded. Schoenle induced a pair of groundouts and a game-ending flyout to secure the win.
The Knights now boast a 9-2 record in extra-inning games and they have allowed only one extra-inning run to score in their nine victories combined.
Charlotte and Scranton/Wiles-Barre are back in action on Wednesday evening with Game Two of the series set for 7:05pm ET, but Tuesday’s extra-inning win will be a hard one to top.