Montgomery Holds Off Columbus After Late-Inning Chaos

COLUMBUS, Ga., — The Columbus Clingstones (30-30, 56-70) rallied out of nowhere against a 4-0 ninth inning deficit to send the game to extra innings, but a six-run 10th inning from the Montgomery Biscuits (35-25) Biscuits took the life out of the Clingstones' comeback bid in a chaotic 10-4 loss on Thursday night at Synovus Park.

Decisive Plays: Montgomery scored twice off Ian Mejia in the fourth inning to build a 2-0 lead and added to it with runs in the seventh and ninth innings to lead 4-0 going into the bottom of the ninth. Patrick Clohisy led off the inning with a single and scored the Clingstones' first run on a sacrifice fly from E.J. Exposito. One batter later, Adam Zebrowski crushed a solo home run (9) to make it 4-2. Drew Compton doubled and Cody Milligan singled to put the tying runs on base with two outs for Cal Conley, who tripled in both runners to tie the game at 4-4. The Clingstones stranded Conley at third base and the game went to the 10th inning.

Montgomery took the lead back with an RBI double from Cooper Kinney, and then added three singles, a walk, and a sacrifice fly to build a 10-4 lead. The Clingstones went down in order in the bottom of the 10th.

Key Contributors: Conley (1-for-4, 3B, 2 RBI) delivered the game-tying triple while Exposito (0-for-4, SF, RBI), Zebrowski (1-for-4, HR, RBI), Compton (1-for-4, 2B), and Milligan (2-for-3, SB) all played key roles in the Clingstones ninth inning rally. For Montgomery, Brayden Taylor (4-for-5, 2 2B, RBI), Colton Ledbetter (3-for-6, 2B, 3 RBI), Gregory Barrios (3-for-5, 2B, RBI) and Kinney (3-for-6, 2 2B, 3B, RBI) provided the offensive punch while a strong start from T.J. Nichols (7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 SO) was overshadowed in the late night scoring binge.

Notable: Columbus falls to 6-7 in extra-inning games. Mejia turned in his 11th quality start of the season (6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) to bring the Clingstones' total to 34 this season. Columbus drops 5.0 games back of the Biscuits' Southern Division lead with nine games to play.

Next Game (Friday, September 5): Columbus vs. Montgomery, 7:05 pm ET at Synovus Park. RHP Landon Harper (4-7, 3.63 ERA) will start for Columbus opposed by RHP Ty Johnson (6-5, 2.66 ERA) for Montgomery. Radio Broadcast: 6:50 pm ET on Sports Visions 92.1 FM.