(Cleburne, TX) The biggest series of the year for the RailCats started on the road against the Cleburne Railroaders. With six-straight games to be played and the RailCats were 5.5 games back of Cleburne for the final playoff spot. Dominic Cancellieri got the start against John Baker.
The Railroaders in the bottom of the second inning scored two runs on a home run from their catcher, Angel Mendoza. The next inning Cody Thomas tripled, and Brantley Bell brought him in with a sacrifice fly to right field, and the Railroaders had a 3-0 lead.
The RailCats in the top of the fourth got their first hit on an opposite field home run from Kevin Watson Jr. The next inning the RailCats scored two more runs with Marc Flores tying the game on a bases loaded walk after Baker was removed for Connor Richardson.
In the bottom of the sixth with two outs, Thomas, Brantley Bell and Frankie Tostado had run-scoring hits and in the next inning, Cole Foster belted a three-run homer to make it 9-3. The RailCats could not rally and dropped their fifth-straight and game one of the series.
The RailCats go into Wednesday with a record of 29-46. LHP Dawson Lane will pitch game two against RHP Scott Ellis. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:06 and a free live stream of the game is available on AABaseball.TV.