Late-inning nail-biters provided plenty of excitement Thursday night at the YMCA Sports Park as Cal Ripken baseball put another week in the books. And while the Orioles continue to have a firm grip on the top spot in the 11-12 Division, after Thursday night, second place is still up for grabs thanks to the Phillies’ gutty come-from-behind victory over the Yankees, 10-9, in the nightcap. Earlier, the Orioles got a tremendous pitching performance from Jordan Williams to shut out the Flomaton Canes, 7-0.
In the 9-10 Division, things remain up in the air as far as standings thanks to an exciting late-inning rally of its own that allowed the Indians to edge the Cardinals 12-10.

PHILLIES 10, YANKEES 9
In one of the more exciting games of the season, the Phillies overcame early deficits of 5-0 and 7-3 and eventually scored the game-winning run on a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. In fact, the Phillies made the most out of their opportunities. Although they were out hit 11-5, they parlayed 10 walks and six Yankee errors into a winning formula.
After giving up eight runs over three innings, the Phillies methodically chipped away at the lead while Austin Holmes came in to relieve Lane Clark in the fourth. While his teammates were closing the gap, Holmes was closing the door on a Yankee offense that had their bats going early. When he entered in the fourth and walked his first batter, the Yankees had runners on first and second with no outs before Holmes induced a long fly ball out to left field, a strikeout and a fielders’ choice to get out of the inning unscathed. That proved to be a key inning, as the Yankees led 8-6 at the time and had the chance for a big rally.
The Phillies went on to score lone runs in the fourth, two in the fifth to tie it at 9-9 and then the deciding run in the sixth to win. Holmes yielded only an RBI double by Ty McFerrin as the only hit and struck out six to get the win. In the deciding inning, Drew Williamson got a one-out single, and went to second on Clark’s single. When a passed ball moved them both up one base, the Yankees intentionally walked Holmes. O’Neil White hit a line drive that was caught by shortstop Caleb Winton and the Yankees were an eyelash away from an inning-ending double play before the quick-as-a-cat Williamson beat the throw back to third. Kristian Smith eventually coaxed a six-pitch walk that allowed Williamson to score the winning run.
Both Williamson and Clark had two hits apiece for the Phillies, while Daniel Blair added a single. The Yankees were led by Troy Lewis, Preston Townsend, Ty McFerrin and Jason Konsler, all of whom had two hits each. Konsler had a triple and two RBIs, Townsend a double and RBI and McFerrin had a pair of RBIs. Joseph Nance had a two-run double in the first inning, while Caleb Winton and Joshua Winton each had RBI singles.

ORIOLES 7, FLOMATON CANES 0
Jordan Williams pitched a complete-game three-hitter to lead the league-leading Orioles to the inter-league victory over the Flomaton Canes. In doing so, Williams struck out 11 en route to the shutout.
Williams was helped by a seven-hit attack from his teammates. Williams himself had a double and single – with two RBIs – in three at-bats. Both Hunter Brittain and Russell Smith each added a double and single. Brittain scored three times, while Smith had a pair of RBIs. Daniel Reed singled for the only other Oriole hit.
The Orioles held a 1-0 lead after the first inning, but broke it open with a four-run second. Reed led off with his single and Jared Baker walked. After a strikeout, Williams stepped up and blistered a double in the gap that scored both Reed and Baker. Smith then tagged a two-out hit that scored both Williams and Brittain, who had walked. As the Orioles claimed a 5-0 lead, Williams struck out nine of the next 14 batters he faced to ice the gem.

INDIANS 12, CARDINALS 10
Down 8-4 after three innings and 10-7 after four, the Indians stormed back to score five fifth-inning runs to edge the Cardinals 12-10 and Miller Hart closed the deal when he pitched the final inning and sat down the Cardinals in order with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout.
Just moments earlier, his teammates scored five runs on one hit – a leadoff single by Hunter Johnson – in the deciding inning. Four walks and an error proved fatal to the Cardinals in that inning.
The Cardinals took an early 4-2 lead when Landon Qualls and Logan Bush led off with singles on the second inning, followed by a walk to Drew Reed. With the bases-loaded, Cam Knapp ripped a bases-clearing triple. They added four more scores in the third when Bush and A.J. Walker each singled and Todd Watson reached on an error and all three scored on two more miscues.
Hart, Lyon Jernigan, Donovan Weaver and Johnson had all of the Indian hits – all singles – while Knapp’s triple, Walker’s double and single, Bush’s two singles and Qualls’ single made up the Indians’ six hits.