July 26: Crowell The Hero As Goldeyes Win On 13th Inning Bomb

Kurt Crowell pulled no punches. And why should he? He swung, the ball flew high and deep and when it landed, there was absolutely no doubt about it.

“I went up there looking for a fastball,” Crowell said. “He threw me a fastball right down the middle. I crushed it.”

Indeed he did. And after he crushed it and the ball flew over the screen in left field, he got a hero’s welcome at home plate by his teammates as Crowell’s dramatic 13th inning bomb gave Winnipeg a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Gary SouthShore RailCats.

“It was great,” Crowell told Shaw TV’s Jim Toth in the post-game interview. “I’ll do anything I can for this team. That was just great.”

At that point, he was pied, on live television, by clubhouse manager Jamie Samson.

For the third time this week, the Goldeyes won on a game-winning home run. On Tuesday against Kansas City, Cody Ehlers was the hero with a two-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth to give the Fish a 10-8 win. On Thursday against Kansas City, it was Adam Frost, who hit a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth in a 1-0 thriller. Saturday night, it was Crowell’s turn, as the Goldeyes won their fifth-straight and moved two games ahead of Gary in the race for first in the Northern League.

But while Crowell turned out to be the extra-inning hero, starting pitcher Bear Bay did a sensational job through seven-plus innings. In fact, Bay didn’t allow a hit until the fifth – and that was a bad-hop grounder that went off third baseman Brent Metheny’s shoulder.

“It was a good week for me,” said Bay, who pitched two great games but didn’t get the decision in either (that 10-8 win over KC and last night). “I had really good stuff all week. In both games, they couldn’t catch up to my fastball.

“But I’m not worried that much about getting the wins. The important thing was we had two walk-off homers to win. I pitched well enough to give the team a chance to win and right now, it’s the wins that matter.”

The final game of this three-game series with Gary goes this afternoon at 1:30 at Canwest Park. It will be righthander Mark Michael’s turn to give his team a chance to win.