DERBY, Kan. — The Derby Twins staged a dramatic comeback Sunday night, scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth to walk off with a 9-8 victory over the Hutchinson Monarchs in front of a spirited home crowd.
Trailing 8-6 entering the final frame, the Twins got a leadoff double from M. Hamond that brought in C. Scott to trim the lead to one. D. Craig moved to third on the play before C. Richards delivered the decisive blow — a two-run single to left field that scored Hamond and Craig to seal the win.
Hutchinson used four pitchers in relief after building a 7-3 lead by the seventh inning, but couldn’t hold off Derby’s late surge. Russell Copous was tagged with the loss, while Ryan Koob picked up the win for the Twins.
Derby jumped ahead early in the second, capitalizing on a two-run single by G. Cooley and an error in center field that helped plate two more runs. C. Richards added an RBI groundout for a 3-0 lead.
The Monarchs responded in the fourth with a pair of RBI singles from J. Knox and O. Cross to tie the game at 3-3. Knox struck again in the fifth, ripping a two-run double to center that gave Hutchinson a 5-3 advantage.
Hutch pushed the lead to 7-3 in the seventh on an RBI single by C. Grimes and a bases-loaded walk to T. Mitchell. But Derby chipped away, scoring once in the seventh on a catcher’s error and twice more in the eighth on a clutch double by J. Lindahl.
J. Knox gave the Monarchs an 8-6 cushion in the top of the ninth by scoring on a wild pitch, but the lead would not hold.
The loss drops Hutchinson to 9-2 in the tightly contested Sunflower Collegiate League race, while the Twins gain momentum with a gritty comeback performance at Panther Field, in a game that was postponed from the beginning of the season due to wet fields in Derby.
Hutchinson travels to Kingman tonight to face the Kingman Islanders with first pitch at 7pm.