WILSON, N.C. - The Wilson Warbirds took advantage of four errors by the Charleston RiverDogs to earn a 6- 5 walk-off win on Saturday night at Wilson Ballpark.
For the second game in a row, Charleston (1-1 second half, 38-30 overall) struck first, plating two in the top of the first on a two-run single from Angel Mateo.
Trailing 2-0 in the fourth, the Wilson (1-1 second half, 37-31 overall) bats came to life with Handelfry Encarnacion smoking a double down the left field line and coming around to score on a Brady Ebel sacrifice fly to cut the Charleston lead in half at 2-1.
Charleston answered right back with a two-run blast from Cooper Flemming to push the lead to 4-1 in the top of the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Warbirds kept the game close on an RBI double from Encarnacion. His second two-bagger of the day made it a 4-2 game.
Charleston added a run in the top of the sixth to go ahead 5-2 with Flemming singling in Brailer Guerrero.
Slowly but surely, the Warbirds fought back. A double from Filippo Di Turi and a sacrifice fly to left field from Luis Lameda cut the Charleston lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh.
In the bottom of the eighth, Di Turi grounded into a fielder’s choice to plate a run, and Kevin Garcia hit Wilson’s third sacrifice fly of the game to knot things at five.
Andrew Healy (W, 3-0) escaped trouble in the top of the ninth to set the table for the offense. After Ebel and Juan Ortuño walked to lead off the inning, Jose Anderson hit a weak ground ball back to the pitcher’s mound. Cesar De Jesus (L, 2-2) knocked the ball down and misfired trying to throw out Anderson, allowing Ebel to score the winning run.
With the 6-5 win clinching at least a share of the series, the Warbirds will look to win the series Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. with RHP Joey Broughton (0-0, 2.53) on the mound against RHP Ethan Storm (3-3, 5.50). Tickets for tomorrow’s contest are available at WilsonWarbirds.com or by calling (919) 269-2287.