MONARCHS RIDE RAILROADERS TO SERIES SWEEP
September 6, 2021
By: Kaitlyn Sanders
CLEBURNE, Texas—The Kansas City Monarchs (69-31) completed the sweep in the final series of the season as they beat the Cleburne Railroaders (54-46) 4-1 in curtain closing game of the 2021 regular season.
The game featured simultaneous drama in three cities across the league while the Monarchs win unfolded. Cleburne needed a win and a loss by Sioux City to clinch the #2 seed. Sioux City needed a win over Sioux Falls and a loss by Cleburne. Lincoln needed a loss by Sioux City and a win over Houston. All three teams lost as the Monarchs swept the Railroaders, but Cleburne clinched the #2 seed with the results around the league.
For the Monarchs the win made them 11-2 against Cleburne for the season as they also won all four games in the series. The win set a franchise high in wins with 69 and games above .500 at 38.
Kansas City’s offense fired up early in the game as Morgan McCullough reached first base on a lead-off single to start the game, and Kevin Santa brought him in with an RBI double, taking the early lead 1-0 in the top of the first.
Colin Willis launched his 19th home run of the season in the top of the fifth to increase the lead to 2-0. Charcer Burks and McCullough both recorded RBI base knocks, adding two more runs to the Monarchs lead, 4-0.
Cleburne scored their only run in the bottom of the fifth on a double steal of second and home to cut into the Monarchs lead, making the score 4-1.
RHP Jake Matthys (9-3) pitched 6.1 innings, allowing five hits, one run with eight strikeouts. LHP Elroy Urbina had one hit and no runs in the seventh, RHP Jeremy Rhoades had no hits and one strikeout in the eighth, and RHP Jameson McGrane closed out the game with no hits, picking up his third save of the series.
The Monarchs will start postseason play at Legends Field on Friday September 10, facing the winner of the play-in game between the Sioux City Explorers and Cleburne Railroaders on Wednesday September 8. The first pitch Friday is at 7:00 p.m. and the game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning 30-minutes prior to first pitch and the video stream airing on aabaseball.tv.
WP: Jake Matthys (9-3)
LP: Jheyson Manzueta (7-5)
S: Jameson McGrane (9)
Post season tickets can be purchased by calling (913) 328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com/tickets. For additional media requests, media members may contact the Monarchs Media Relations Department at (817) 739-3693. Stay tuned to MonarchsBaseball.com and the Monarchs social media pages for updates throughout the season.
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