SAN ANTONIO- In many ways the spirit of the Texas Winter League is one of perseverance. Baseball players come looking for second chances in the hopes of playing professionally after being told one way or another that they weren’t welcome elsewhere.

 

Perseverance gave the Wranglers the Texas Winter League championship on Friday in a 26-15 victory against the Alamos.

 

After four innings the Wranglers trailed 9-1. Their adversity was not only limited to the Alamos and their top pitcher, Bobby Orozco, but the weather. The temperature at Nelson Wolff Stadium was 36 degrees with a 26 degree wind chill over unforgiving, grey skies that released a mist in the early innings.

 

Not only would a comeback be unlikely but it would mean pain; the sting of the bat producing stingers and bleeding hands.

 

On top of that, their opponent appeared to have hydra-like qualities.

 

When the Wranglers scored five runs in the top of the fifth to suddenly make the game competitive at 9-6, the Alamos scored three more in the bottom of the inning.

 

Wranglers score four more to make it 12-10 in the top of the sixth, the Alamos scored another three in the bottom of the inning to make it 15-10, Alamos.

 

And Wranglers manager Brent Methany could not have cared less.

 

“I got the guys together and said ‘It’s cold. This is the championship. Who cares?’”

 

With the game 3 ½ hours old as the top of the seventh began, there was some discussion if the game would even go the scheduled nine innings. But Wranglers’ leadoff hitters Josh Arriaga and Yusuke Oyama both reached on errors, Steve Taft and Jordan Drake drove them in, and the Alamos gave their opponents a third unearned run in the inning when Joseph Charles let a two out infield pop up fall in. The 15-13 score meant the game was still undecided.

 

Then, on a day where it seemed no one could truly pitch effectively, the Wranglers finally were able to stop the Alamos from scoring. Though they never were able to retire the Alamos in order, Reid Hoffler, in his fourth inning of relief, was able get out of the bottom of the seventh allowing only two hits and no runs.

 

In the eighth, off new reliever Hikaru Ogawa, the Wranglers scored a single run when Aaron Wells, who had four hits in the game, doubled over the head of centerfielder Charles Shapiro. After Arriaga walked, he was forced at second by Oyama on a groundout that allowed Wells to advance to third and score on Taft’s sacrifice fly. 15-14 Alamos.

 

It was at this point Wranglers manager Brent Methany inserted Chihaya Sakari into the game, and the righthanded submariner responded with his best performance of the Texas Winter League, tossing three shutout innings.

 

“The main turning point and the MVP of the game was when Sakari came in and put up a zero,” Methany said. “When he put up the zero, it allowed us to take the lead.”

 

By holding the Alamos at bay, the Wranglers were able to tie the score in the top of the ninth. Jake Taylor led off with a sharp line drive double that stayed just inside fair territory in left field to lead off the inning, he advanced to third on Eric Garcia’s single to left, and after Wells popped out for the first out of the inning, Arriaga hit a ground ball to shortstop Mike Shada on a 3-2 pitch that drove in Taylor with the tying run.

 

When the Alamos had a runner at second base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Methany ordered leadoff hitter Rob Perrin intentionally walked in order to face second place hitter Mike Shada. The strategy proved effective when Shada flew to Warren Stehn in right field to end the inning and open up the floodgates in the tenth.

 

Simply put, Ogawa (1-2) had run out of gas and Alamos manager Mike Pinto had no relief pitchers to turn to. Drake led off with a triple and scored three walks later to give the Wranglers their first lead of the game. Eric Garcia followed with a 2-run single to make it 18-15, Oyama collected his first hit of the game to make it 19-15, Taft followed with a bases loaded walk, Drake hit his second triple of the inning to clear the bases, and by the time Jack Morrow grounded out for the second out of the inning, the Wranglers had taken a 24-15 lead before scoring two more runs on another Taylor double and a bases loaded walk from Arriaga for the final run of the game and an incredible comeback.

 

“I don’t think we envisioned winning down 9-1. Come back? Yes. I knew how their pitching was set up,” said Methany.

 

“It’s good,” Methany continued. “I came down here for a month and I get something to go home with to show something to my kids, and all the players get to show their families rings. It shows it is worth it.”

 

James Brown started the game for the Wranglers but was held back by the control problems that hampered him throughout the Texas Winter League season. Though he allowed only two hits in three plus innings, he walked eight men, good enough for eight Alamos runs.

 

The problem was Reid Hoffler, who led the TWL in saves with three this season, did not fare particularly better, giving up seven runs in four innings, including eight hits and six runs.

 

Meanwhile Orozco, who had started Thursday’s 14-9 semifinal victory before getting knocked out of the box in the second inning, came back to throw five innings but, predictably, began to tire as the game went on, allowing a run on a Wells single in the fourth and five more in the fourth on two hits, a walk, and three errors.

 

Cam Margaris was supposed to be able to counter Orozco’s soft tosses with 91 mile per hour gas and wreck havoc with Wranglers hitters. But instead, he was touched for four hits, three walks, and seven runs in two innings of work to enable the comeback.

 

Sakurai (1-2) pitched the final three innings for the Wranglers, allowing one hit and three walks while striking out three.

 

Drake, Taylor, and Wells all had four hits for the Wranglers, while Drake, Taylor and Garcia all drove in four runs.

 

Gabe Garza, borrowed from the Tejanos to play catcher, had three extra base hits and drove in four runs. In two playoff games for the Alamos he had five long hits and drove in eight runs.

 

NOTES- The game was the first extra inning game in three years in the TWL and was the first game to be played under electric lights, which were turned on in the eighth inning with sundown a half hour away.

 

“I want to thank league director Jose Melendez for that,” said Methany. “It was a class move and probably cost him a lot of money.”

                                                               

The game took 5:06 to play. The first nine innings took four and one-half hours, which would have exceeded the longest nine inning game in National League history by five minutes.

 

Eleven runs in the 10th inning would have tied the major league record for runs in the 10th inning, set by the Oakland A’s against the Minnesota Twins on June 21, 1969.

 

The Alamos committed seven errors while the Wranglers committed four. The two teams combined for only 29 hits, 18 of which were earned by the Wranglers. There were 33 walks, with 17 given to the Alamos and 16 to the Wranglers. The Wranglers had 72 plate appearances and the Wranglers had 61.

 

After the Wranglers scored their 11th run in the top of the 10th Methany took his team off the field, so the Alamos officially only had 29 putouts in the game.

 

The Wranglers will earn rings for their championship. A banquet will be held at 11 a.m. at the Sea World Holiday Inn in San Antonio for the players, who will there learn of the individual awards won and what team they have been invited to camp with.

 

Personnel not affiliated with the TWL can attend the banquet for $20 at the door.

 

Leaders:

 

Batting average: Jack Morrow, Wranglers & Kori Melo, Apaches .467

Home Runs: Andrew Carmadella, Alamos 3

Doubles: Morrow, 8

Triples: Jordan Drake, Wranglers 5

RBIs: Warren Stehn & Morrow, Wranglers, 19

Runs: Jason Merjano, Pericos 23

One Base Pct: Ben Boykin, Alamos .605

Stolen Bases: Steve Taft, Wranglers 20

OPS: Morrow, 1.494

HBP: Chris Carmouche, Apaches, 7

 

Earned Run Average: Joshua Ferrell, Pericos 0.82

Strikeouts: Rene Solis, Pericos 37

Victories: Ferrell, 4

Innings Pitched: Bobby Orozco, Alamos 31 2/3

Games: Reid Hoffler, Wranglers 11

Saves: Hoffler, 3

Complete Games: Orozco, 4