Railroaders move into first place as they take four of six from Gary SouthShore

CLEBURNE – The Cleburne Railroaders (17-12) continued their offensive onslaught scoring 70 runs in the six game series versus the Gary SouthShore RailCats (9-19). Cleburne wins four of the six games to take over first place in the East Division. 

Last week's offensive spurt culminated on Thursday with a 23-4 win where some American Association records were broken. In the bottom of the second inning, Gary SouthShore walked 12 batters, that being the most ever in a single inning. Thomas Dillard was the recipient of a lot of those walks with five on Thursday and 13 overall last week.

Brian O'Grady led the team in most offensive categories last week, recording 11 hits, four home runs and 16 RBIs. O'Grady leads the American Association in home runs (12) and RBIs (39).

Carter Aldrete went 9-for-20 in this series, hitting two home runs, seven RBIs and 9 base on balls. Aldrete is batting .342 in nine games so far this season.

Catcher Blake Grant-Parks was signed by Cleburne last week, playing in four games of this series, getting six hits and seven RBIs. Grant-Parks played for Cleburne for two seasons (2017-18).

Jaxx Groshans hit two home runs and walked seven times last week. Groshans is hitting .262 with eight home runs this season for Cleburne.

Brett Boswell is finally turning back into the MVP candidate he was predicted to be going 10-for-21 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in this series. Boswell is hitting .237 with five home runs this season. He batted .318 in 37 games for Cleburne last season.

Batting .288, Shed Long is having an impressive season. Against Gary SouthShore, Long went 9-for-24 with three RBIs and nine strikeouts. Long has 26 strikeouts in 27 games this season.

Jacques Pucheu (3-1) made two incredible starts for Cleburne in this series, getting wins on Tuesday and Sunday. Pucheu, in those two starts, pitched 14 scoreless innings giving up just six hits and striking out seven. Pucheu has a 2.40 ERA in the six games he has pitched in this season.

Antonio Velez made his first start for Cleburne on Thursday night after signing earlier this week. Velez pitched 6 innings giving up just one earned run on six hits while striking out five. Velez pitched in the Baltimore Orioles organization before signing with the Sioux City Explorers in the offseason.

Johnathon Tripp (2-0) was the starting pitcher in Saturday's 9-3 loss, pitching 4 1/3 shutout innings, giving up six hits and striking out three batters. Tripp has a 4.05 ERA in six games this year.

After Sunday's 9-1 win, Cleburne took sole possession of first place in the East Division, a half game over the Kane County Cougars (16-12).  Cleburne now hits the road traveling to Wisconsin to start a six-game series with the Lake Country DockHounds (10-18) on Tuesday.