On paper, the Texas League South Division Championship Series appears to be a tremendous matchup between the league's top two teams, the hometown Rockhounds and Frisco Roughriders. Through the first two games, the series has lived up to the billing, according to Bob Hards with Midland Rockhounds Baseball.
Frisco needed 11 innings to edge the Rockhounds, 4-3 on Thursday night at Riders Field in the Metroplex.
The Roughriders’ win in the second game evened the series, and forced a third and deciding game Friday night in Frisco.
The Rockhounds twice came within one out (and in one case, one strike) of closing out the series, but the Roughriders tied the game in the last of the ninth inning on a solo home run from Abimelec Ortiz, and again in the 10th, this time on a flair single to left field off the bat of Alejandro Osuna.
After holding the Rockhounds scoreless in the top of the 11th, Frisco scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly from Ortiz.
The game's first four runs came on solo home runs, with Frisco's Cody Freeman breaking a scoreless tie in the last of the fourth inning with a drive to left field. The Rockhounds tied the game and took the lead in the span of two pitches in the sixth on back to back home runs from Daniel Susac and Will Simpson.
With the score still 2-1, with bases empty and two out in the last of the ninth, Ortiz sent a 2-2 pitch out to right field, a towering drive that sent the game to extra innings.
Denzel Clarke's two-out RBI single put the "Hounds" back in front, 3-2, in the top of the 10th, but Osuna answered with a two-out single in the home half of the inning, pushing the game to the 11th.
Frisco's Dane Acker went three innings in relief, including a 1-2-3 top of the 11th, which set the stage for Ortiz's walk-off sac fly, and for a third and deciding game in what has been a remarkable series.