A rough start ended with excitement and joy for the first-place Volcanoes in Thursday’s walk-off win against the Senators — the first walk-off this season in the Mavericks League.
Jacobi Allen’s sacrifice fly brought in Jose Villa to end the night, and cap off a four-run comeback for the Volcanoes to win 9-8.
It was Allen’s second RBI of the night. Villa also had two RBIs, knocking in one with a double in the bottom of the ninth.
Carlos Cuevas, in his first Mavericks League game, was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Arian Castro and Quentin Alexander also made their debuts on Thursday for the Volcanoes, each with an RBI and run scored.
The Volcanoes bullpen combined to allow just one run in five innings after Garrett Alvarez struggled initially in just his fourth appearance and second start of the Mavericks League season. Alvarez allowed seven runs, six earned, in four innings.
Things looked like they could have been worse for him though.
After the first four Senators batters reached base, two coming around to score, Volcanoes manager Tony Torcato came to the mound to talk to Alvarez. Whatever Torcato said to him worked for the moment, as Alvarez responded with a strikeout and double play to get out of the inning.
But the Senators weren’t done. They scored in each of the first five innings, including three in the second, and were up 8-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
The top of the order showed why they were there for the Senators. Dylan Moser, Garrett Keuber and Edgar Vela, the first three batters in the lineup, went 9-for-13 with six RBIs and five runs scored while no other Senators had multiple hits. Keuber had three RBIs and three runs scored.
The loss makes seven in a row for the Senators (12-17) now as they continue to slide down further in the Mavericks League standings, 4.5 games behind the first place Volcanoes (16-12).