Every ball player dreams of it. Score tied in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on third and a chance to bring in the winning run.
It did not happen the way the dream goes by hitting a towering home run, but Trent Durrington will take the result just the same.
He hit a broken-bat groundball to the shortstop who had no choice but to try to throw out Chone Figgins at home. The ultimate baseball game ending, a play at the plate. The throw sailed a little high, and the Stingers had a dramatic 5-4 victory over the Oklahoma Redhawks.
Chone Figgins got the Stingers started with a bang. He hit a leadoff home run to right field and gave Salt Lake the 1-0 lead.
They added another run in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Keith Johnson after a Barry Wesson triple. The lead did not last for long as the Redhawks scored two in the top of the third on RBIs by Jermaine Clark and Mike Lamb.
It was a back and forth game from there as the Stingers retook the lead in the fourth inning on another RBI from Keith Johnson and starting pitcher Matt Hensley kept the 3-2 lead intact until the top of the seventh. That was when Ryan Christensen hit a line drive homer run that gave Oklahoma the lead.
"I thought it was a good match up Hensley facing Christensen, but he hung a breaking ball and Christensen tagged it," said Stinger's manager Mike Brumley of the blast.
The Stingers didn't take long to even the score as Jason Hill hit a triple in the bottom of the seventh and Julio Ramirez drove him in with a single Rich Rodriguez pitched a great eighth inning and faced one batter in the ninth and Bart Miadich got the final two outs for Salt Lake.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth Chone Figgins would hit the Stingers' third triple of the night to set up the dramatic final play.
"This is a good ballpark to hit triples. Last year we set a record with like 90 of them. Obviously Chone can hit them. He has shown that he can really play and Anaheim has big plans for him," said Brumley of his star.
The Stingers will face Oklahoma again tonight at Franklin Covey Field at 7:00 pm. For Friday night's game former major league pitcher Jim Palmer will be throwing out the first pitch. The win puts the Stingers record at 55-56 on the year. They will again have a chance to pull to .500. In their previous twelve tries on the year to do so they are only 4-8.
BEELINES: Last night's game was the 1,400th regular season game in the Salt Lake franchise history . . . The franchise has won 104 more games than it has lost and has outscored its opponents by 698 total runs . . . Pitcher Doug Nickle was traded to the White Sox late Tuesday night . . . Pitcher Marc Kroon was called up from Arkansas but had not arrived in Salt Lake by game time.