Williams' walk-off homer gives Bombers extra-inning win

With fans awaiting the postgame fireworks at Liberty Park Stadiium, Bubby Williams provided some fireworks of his own with a walk-off home run in the 10th inning Wednesday night.

In front a nearly sold-out crowd and family members, the catcher belted a 1-0 fastball deep over the left-field wall to give the Sedalia Bombers a 6-5 extra-inning win over the Ozark Generals in their home opener.

“I was waiting for it. I knew I was going to see a slider first pitch because that’s what they threw me all night. I was ready for the fastball and jumped on it,” Williams said. “It’s awesome. With the fans chanting my name and my family here, I couldn’t have asked for a better ending than a walk-off.”

The win came on a night when fans descended upon Liberty Park to catch a glimpse of some of the best collegiate players in the nation. Treated to a walk-off blast, promotional giveaways throughout the contest and postgame fireworks, the fans got their money’s worth on a historic night for Sedalia’s new team.

The Bombers christened their new park with 10 hits, two homers and a dominant pitching performance that staked the Bombers to an early lead in the Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas (MINK) League game.

The late-inning heroics followed up a dominant performance from starting pitcher Zach Hardoin, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. After Dominic Bouvier reached on an errant throw, Bryan Propst launched a double to deep right field to end the nearly-perfect stretch. Due to a high pitch count, the southpaw was forced to exit the game with a 4-0 lead after striking out six and allowing only four base runners in 5 1/3 innings. 

The early run support came on Jordan May’s two-run homer in the second, followed up by a Jason McBride RBI groundout  and Jon Wegener’s sacrifice fly in the third.

Armed with the 4-0 advantage and Hardoin cruising, the lead seemed insurmountable but after five innings of nothing, the Generals got to the Bombers’ bullpen.

Aaron Kleecamp entered with the bases loaded in the sixth with one out and couldn’t keep the lead. The Generals pounced on him early, scoring their first run off a sacrifice fly and following up with a two-out, bases clearing double to close the gap to 4-3. 

The three unearned runs could have taken the sails out of the Bombers, but T.S Reed rebounded with some small ball to provide an insurance run in the seventh . After a one-out single, Reed stole second and third and scored on a wild pitch to give the Bombers a 5-3 lead.

The advantage would be erased in the top of the eighth, though. With two outs, Evan Kohli singled to keep the inning alive and set the stage for Trey Horn. Horn deposited a 1-0 pitch just inside the left-field foul pole to knot the score at 5 and silence the Bombers faithful. 

Despite allowing all three inherited runs to score in the sixth and giving up a game-tying homer in the eighth, Kleecamp settled down to retire the side in the ninth and 10th to set up Williams’ game-ending long ball.