The Florence Y’alls, Northern Kentucky’s minor league baseball team, competed in its first home run derby of the franchise Thursday night, and it was one that put their first-place title on the line.
Leading up to Thursday, the Y’alls were the sole leaders of the Frontier League West Division. They split two high-scoring games against the Evansville Otters in an 11-7 loss on Tuesday and a 13-6 win on Wednesday.
The finale of the three-game series continued the offensive momentum both teams built up earlier in the week. The Y’alls led the entire game before giving up three runs to the Otters in the ninth inning. The game ended regulation at 8-8.
In the 10th inning, both teams tallied one run. Even at nine, the game's deciding factor would come in a home run derby based on the Frontier League’s rules for overtime past the 10th inning.
In the derby, the Y’alls couldn’t find one home run and lost their swagger at the plate just when it mattered most.
The Otters shut down the Y’alls 9-0 in the home run derby, claiming the win and a slice of the West Division first place position.
“We weren’t hoping to get down to that point,” Y’alls field manager Brian White said of the home run derby. “Obviously, we gave up those three runs in the ninth which kind of took the life out of us a little bit but we were able to respond in the 10th inning to tie it up. We had an opportunity to go ahead and win it right there, but we went into the home run derby and that’s what the league voted on this year for us to determine wins and losses after the 10th inning...We need to come out on top of that.”
Road series against Southern Illinois
On Friday, the Y’alls hit the road for a three-game series against the Southern Illinois Miners. It's the second series this season between the Miners and Y'alls after the teams met in June in a Y'alls three-game sweep.
In the series debut, the Y’alls entered the ninth inning tied at 2 with the Miners.
The Y'alls tallied the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth and pitcher Jared Cheek closed out the game out in the bottom of the inning. The Y'alls secured a 3-2 win against the Miners.
“We faced their No. 1 starter last night and we were able to get the win over him, which was obviously tough going on the road against a divisional opponent,” White said of the Miners. “We got some momentum back on our side our players are feeling pretty good they’re excited to be out there.”
Despite being the winningest team in the league, the Miners have a 5-9 record this season. The Y'alls will play the Miners on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. Central Time and on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. Central Time.
White said pitcher Kevin Hahn will get the start Saturday in the second game of the series.
“He threw really well last week against Gateway (Grizzlies) and we’re hoping he can kind of repeat that today,” White said. “If he gets us a good start this outing we feel really good about our chances."
The Evansville Otters suffered an 8-6 loss to Schaumburg on Friday, giving the Y’alls back sole ownership of the first place title in the division.
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