The RailCats took the first game of the Railway Series in grand fashion, beating the Cleburne Railroaders 5–0. It was also the home opener for the RailCats, and what a show they put on for the fans!

The RailCats entered last night’s game 2–4, with the Railroaders coming in at 3–3. The question in this series is whether the RailCats can outscore the Railroaders’ high-powered offense. Last night, they answered that question in game one. But can it continue in the next two games?

This is what I saw in the RailCats Home Opener.

1st Inning—Home openers are always special, even if the team has played six games prior. For me, this one was a little more special because I brought my son to the game. Yes, he was at a handful of games last year, but he was only a week or two old. Last night, he could see what was going on and loved every minute of it. The kid will be a Ballpark Cat, and I wouldn’t want it any other way, even if he has zero clue what is going on. Plus, he really liked the walking taco with chicken and ate half the bag!

2nd Inning—Walking through the right-field gates and looking at the beautiful new scoreboard brought a newfound love for the SteelYard. Yeah, it may not have the brick outlining around it or the old-time box score at the bottom, but it’s new and exciting, and it adds so much more to the ballpark. I’m curious how much they’ll play around with it and try to push the limits of the new scoreboard.

3rd Inning—One last thing before we get into what happened on the field. The fans brought the energy to the stadium. It’s nice seeing returning fans year after year, plus you get the new fans and their excitement. I had a couple of fans talking about how they have lived in the area for years and had never been to a game, and by the end they were talking about coming to more and wanting to go to the team store to buy RailCats merchandise so they can rep it around town!

4th Inning—To open the game, Peyton Long gave up two back-to-back singles, but he got himself out of it by getting Cody Thomas to ground a ball back to him. It was a hard-hit ball back to Peyton, which was kind of surprising to both Peyton and the fans. He then went on to strike out Carter Aldrete, which I believe deflated the Railroaders and set the mood for the game.

5th Inning—Peyton Long had a great start in this game. He went seven innings, gave up only four hits, and struck out seven. When he pitches at the SteelYard and has Cooper Edwards behind the plate, he makes magic happen. He gets batters to pop up or fly out, and with the SteelYard being big and the wind blowing in, the big power bats of Cleburne turn into outs.

6th Inning—Elvis Peralta is the engine that moves these RailCats. In the third inning, with one out and the bases loaded, he delivered the kill shot to the Railroaders by hitting a grand slam into Cleburne’s bullpen. It was a 3–2 count, and I heard a Cleburne player say, “Watch, he is going to hit a home run.” Which he did. It was one of those at-bats where you knew something major was coming, and Elvis came through in that moment. He currently leads the team in AVG(.423), OBP(.545), SLG(.692), OPS(1.238), Hits(11), RBIs(11), home runs(2), and walks(7).

7th Inning—I wish that umpires had mics, because in the fifth inning we had no idea what was going on. Watson was on third and Peralta was on first. Peralta stole second, and the throw got away from the second baseman, allowing Watson to come home. The home plate umpire had his hands up, killing the play, and it took a couple of moments for everyone to know what was going on. We can confirm it was batter interference, as Nick Podkul swung at strike three and, on his backswing, ended up hitting the catcher.

This is where it gets tricky. There is a rule that states if a batter interferes with a catcher trying to throw a runner out, both the batter and the runner are out. There is another rule that says if the batter interferes with the catcher on an unintentional swing, even on a third strike, the runners go back. I would assume it’s the latter of the two rules, and Podkul didn’t move into the catcher’s way. If someone has that answer, please let me know!

8th Inning—In years past, whenever the starter comes out and the RailCats have the lead, you get this sinking feeling that the opposing team is going to either tie the game or take the lead. So far this season, you get a sense of calm and confidence that the bullpen is going to shut things down, which Joan Valdez and Cade Hermann did. Valdez pitched the eighth and struck out one, and Hermann came in for the ninth, striking out one and walking one batter.

9th Inning—Speaking of the bullpen, I ran into Cooper Edwards and Dawson Lane in public and asked them how they are feeling about the season. Both seemed very confident in the team, despite being 2–4 when I spoke with them. Dawson said he was really surprised at how well the bullpen has done. The bullpen added new pieces this year, so it can be hard to determine what kind of group you will have.

Extra Innings—Outside of the first two games of the season, this team has been oozing confidence. When they have the lead, it’s hard for teams to get back into the game, and when the team is trailing, they are going to fight tooth and nail to get back into it. This is something you haven’t seen in past seasons.

I am always in favor of promoting the team and trying to get people to go to games, so if you ever want to or know someone that wants to go to games but are struggling to get tickets please let me know, I will typically have 3 extra tickets, just let me know either on social media or email me at 219cats@219cats.com

219 ‘Cat Player of The Game: Elvis Peralta- 1 for 3, With a Grand Slam in the 3rd.