Baltimore Chop Walks Off Charleston

A Baltimore Chop from Yeiferth Castillo delivered the Hill City Howlers the walk-off win in extra innings over the Charleston RiverDogs on Saturday night.

The 5-4 victory was spurred on by a handful of errors from the RiverDogs, as the Howlers capitalized several times for the win. For Hill City, it was their eighth walk-off win of year.

The scoring started in the bottom of the second as Castillo spurred the first run of the game. After reaching on a single, he found himself on second. A double steal allowed him to take third, but a throwing error on the play brought him home.

Charleston tied it up in the fourth inning as Yirer Garcia flew out on a sacrifice fly. The Howlers responded almost immediately as Riley Nelson delivered on a single up-the-middle to put the Howlers up 2-1.

In the sixth, Angel Mateo evened the score with a ground ball single that found right field. Castillo answered in the bottom of the sixth by driving home a run on a double-play ball, providing the one run lead again.

The lead lasted until the ninth when Brody Donay drilled a single to right, tying the score at three apiece. Hill City could not answer in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game to extras.

The top of the tenth saw Brady Marget enter as a pinch hitter for Charleston, driving home the go-ahead run with a groundout to short. Evan Chrest worked out of the jam to keep it a one-run game.

The bottom of the frame opened with a game-tying single from Gabriel Rodriguez, which scored the ghost-runner from second. Hill City had the tying run on third with no outs in the inning, but it was not until the bases were loaded with two down for Castillo to deliver. His high chopper dropped over the third baseman, keeping the Howlers undefeated record in extra-innings alive.

The Howlers can split the series with a win on Sunday over the RiverDogs. First pitch at City Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Tickets are available at hchowlers.com.