Railer Baseball Diary Final Chapter: Splitters Fall Short In Regionals

[May 26, 2016]  By Benjamin Yount

SPRINGFIELD – Garrett Aeilts struck out five and smacked a double in the third inning that put the Lincoln Railers ahead by three runs in their regional game against Rochester Wednesday.

But he was left on the mound one inning too long.

“Garrett had a little trouble and I kept waiting for him to bounce back,” Lincoln Coach Pat Hake said after Wednesday's game. “There were are couple, too many good swings. I wish I went to (Austin) Netwon a little earlier.”

Aeilts pitched a very good, very gutsy game,. He struck out two Rochester hitters in each of the first two innings.

And Lincoln helped him from the plate.

Andrew Yount drove in a run with a single, then scored on a two-out double from Ryan Thomas in the first inning.

Aeilts' double in the third scored Yount on a bang-bang play at the plate.

Rochester then scored two, including one run on a controversial balk in the third inning.

The Railers scored their fourth run off an Aaron Hopp single in the fourth.

But then Aeilts started to get tired.

“We knew coming out that (Rochester) was going to be a tough team,” Aeilts said after the game. “But we knew that we've been playing well lately. And we just tried to build on what we've been doing.”

Shaking hands.

Aeilts pitched himself out of a jam in the fourth. And came back to the mound in the fifth.

Rochester's stand-out short stop Tyler Fitzgerald blasted a home run to left center to tie the game.

That sparked a three run Rochester fifth inning and doomed the Railsplitters.

“Garrett was out there competing,” Hake said he made the decision to keep Aeilts on the mound for the fifth.

“I knew I just wanted to finish-out strong,” Aeilts said.

The loss ends the season, and the high school careers, for Lincoln's seniors.

Aaron Hopp was a bit emotional after the game.

“We're special. We're all attached,” Hopp said as the seniors lingered on the field for a little longer after the loss. “You can't take that away from us. We've been playing together since we were two-years-old. It's awesome.”

Despite the loss, the 2016 season is a success for the Railsplitters.

Lincoln won 21 games, including their first post-season win in five years.