Twelve games into the season, the RailCats have their first series win! They beat the Winnipeg Goldeyes in game 2 and game 3 of the series after dropping game 1, 7-1. In game 2, they scraped out just one more run than the Goldeyes, 2-1. In game 3, the RailCats had a whole-team win, beating the Goldeyes 9-3 and exploding for six runs in the 3rd after giving Winnipeg the 2-1 lead in the top of the 3rd. Here are nine things I saw in game 3.

1st Inning – Peyton Long had another strong start, going 7 innings. He gave up 7 hits and 2 runs, both earned, and struck out 5. All the runs came in the 3rd inning. If Scout Knotts had been able to time his jump correctly, Peyton could have had 7 scoreless innings and might have gone 8. More on that inning later. The key thing to note for Peyton is that he has pitched 19 innings with 20 strikeouts and has yet to give up a walk.

2nd Inning – Cooper Weiss has struggled for most of the season, but Jeff has kept him in the lineup. For the Winnipeg series, he moved Weiss from the 7th spot to the 2nd to try to get him going. Through the first two games, Cooper Weiss was 0–6; in game 3, he went 3–4, scoring 3 runs with 1 double and a walk. Two things stand out: first, during his 0–6 stretch he didn’t strike out, which means he was seeing the ball and putting it in play. Second, if Cooper gets hot, this series will be where it started. Funny how baseball works: you can see the ball well and hit it hard right at defenders, and then suddenly those same balls start finding grass.

3rd Inning- Doubles have been hard to come by for this RailCats team. So far in the season it’s been a whole lot of walks and singles and sprinkle some homeruns in there. In game 3 the team had 11 hits and 4 of which were doubles. 2 of those doubles came in the 3rd inning were the RailCats exploded for 6 runs to retake the lead. I believe doubles are the way to gain moment in a game.

4th Inning – The RailCats went into the top of the 3rd inning leading 1–0. After Peyton Long got two outs with a runner on second, Noah Marcelo hit a fly ball to Scout Knotts, who misplayed the jump at the wall, allowing a run to score. Things started to unravel a little, but Peyton was able to control the damage. After an inning like that, it was time for the offense to answer. With runners on first and second and one out, Scout Knotts made up for his mishap in right field by driving in Cooper Weiss. The RailCats would score five more runs to take a 7–2 lead. This inning showed that just because you make a mistake in the field does not mean you cannot make up for it at the plate, which Knotts did. The rest of the team fed off that energy, helped pick up a teammate, and put together an inning that helped their pitcher out.

5th Inning – After a few games of the offense not playing to its strengths, in this game they found that groove again. Getting 11 hits is great, but I’m talking about quality at-bats and drawing walks. The team had 6 walks in this one. They struck out 6 times, but if you take out Kevin Watson Jr.’s two strikeouts (he came in for the injured Olivier Basabe), the team would only have 4. “Free bases always score” – my new favorite saying thanks to Michela Barbanete.

6th Inning – We got our first look at newly signed infielder Camryn Williams, who actually started the game in left field. Camryn hadn’t played in over a year due to an injury that most people believed he wouldn’t come back from. He went 1-for-4 with a run scored. He ended up playing third base by the end of the game due to the injury to Olivier Basabe. For him to not have played in over a year and still be able to get a hit and avoid striking out tells me he is seeing the ball well, and it’ll just be a matter of getting the timing down.

7th Inning – Joe Suozzi had himself a big game, going 2-for-3 with a run scored, 2 RBI, 2 doubles, and a walk. Suozzi had been struggling for a few games, so it was great to see him break out. He was awarded the RailCats Player of the Game. He also wanted no part of the Gatorade shower on a cold night at the Steel Yard, and it was funny watching him face the dugout to keep an eye on his teammates.

8th Inning – You can always tell when Joan Valdez is feeling it. In 2 innings he gave up 3 hits and his first earned run of the season, and he had three strikeouts. He had his emotions on full display, jumping up and down after big strikeouts or when he saw his defense make great plays in the field. With him getting his swagger back, he is going to be a shutdown bullpen arm, and that’s exciting because he is electric to watch. Just be prepared for some benches being cleared, because he is known for a couple of those, which is fine by me. Getting under the opponent’s skin can be the difference in a game or a series.

9th Inning – Has the defense been like it has been in the past couple of seasons? No. But it’s starting to gel. Errors and misplayed fly balls are going to happen. It comes down to how you react to the next pitch. There hasn’t been much unraveling from the defensive side of things. Yes, there have been innings that unraveled due to errors, but I mean letting it pile up from inning to inning, and I haven’t seen that quite yet. Mistakes happen, that’s what baseball is all about. But it’s how you pick yourself up, like Scout Knotts did in the bottom of the 3rd to spark the win.

Extra Innings – If this team plays like they did tonight, it’s going to be a fun season. I may have hit that panic button a few times – just some PTSD from the past four and a half seasons. I still have my reservations about their consistency. This series could be the spark that lights the flame.

Now it’s time to add to that flame and beat up on a Cleburne team that will be down on themselves, but motivated to get back in the win column after getting swept by the Chicago Dogs.

I still believe the RailCats should have taken two of three against Cleburne last week. Hopefully it’s not déjà vu all over again.