WICHITA, Kan.—The Wichita Wind Surge battled until the final pitch in a 9-8 defeat against the Arkansas Travelers at Riverfront Stadium. The Wind Surge trailed by as many as six runs and rallied back to tie the game before Arkansas took the game back in the top of the seventh and subsequently throughout.
Harry Ford opened the night on a double down the left field line before scoring on a Ben Williamson sacrifice fly to left in the top of the first.
Aaron Sabato was awarded the plate on a balk in the bottom of the second, and then Kyler Fedko gave the lead to Wichita on a sacrifice fly to left field.
Six runs got put up in the start of the third for the Travelers. The first came in on an RBI single by Hogan Windish; the second was next on a bases-loaded walk from Brock Rodden. Kaden Polcovich emptied said bases on a triple to the left-center gap and touched the plate himself on a groundout for a 7-2 lead that grew to six runs in the next inning on a wild pitch.
Carson McCusker struck an opposite-field double to the corner in right to open the bottom of the fourth, and Andrew Cossetti singled him in two batters later. Dalton Shuffield put the Wind Surge within two runs on a high-arcing three-run home run that stayed fair off the foul pole.
Those two runs would appear two innings later in the home half of the sixth. Andrew Cossetti launched a solo shot, his eighth of the season, out to left field, and Jorel Ortega connected on his first base hit of the night to allow Fedko to score as the tying run in an 8-8 ballgame.
Ford put the lead back into the hands of the Travelers on a run-scoring base knock up the gut to center heading into the stretch. After neither team scored heading into the bottom of the ninth, Jake Rucker singled to left field. Ben Ross came on as a pinch-runner, and then a double play ended the night.
Taylor Floyd falls to 3-4 on the season after getting pinned with the loss, giving up an unearned run on two hits with two strikeouts in two innings out of the bullpen.