Vibes Break Up No-Hitter in Ninth, Win in Knockout Round

By Tyler Petersen

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.

Despite having no baserunners through five and no hits through eight, the Rocky Mountain Vibes somehow came back to score four runs in the ninth and win in the Knockout Round over the Jackalopes on Tuesday night.

The final score, which misrepresents the great majority of the game, officially gets recorded as 4-4 (2-1 in Round 1) for the Vibes' 36^th win of the season and 16^th of the second half. They gain a game back on both Grand Junction and Northern Colorado and are now up by three games in first place.

Blaine Traxel and Justin Kleinsorge went head-to-head with dueling Perfect Games through the first four innings. It wasn't until the fifth that either team got someone on base when Grand Junction tallied four hits and a run.

In the sixth the Vibes still had nothing going against Kleinsorge while the Jacks added another run.

It wasn't finally until the seventh that Steve Barmakian walked to open the inning that Rocky Mountain finally got someone on base. But the Vibes still couldn't get a hit and it remained a 2-0 game.

Blaine Traxel finished off his best professional start in the bottom half of the inning. Through seven complete he allowed just 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, and 8 strikeouts.

In the eighth Kleinsorge remained dominant, getting another 1-2-3 frame. He struck out 11 Rocky Mountain hitters on the night.

Carlos Lomeli came in for the eighth and gave up two unearned runs after two errors in the field. It was 4-0 Jackalopes as the game headed to the ninth.

From all available records, Kleinsorge was three outs away from throwing the first no-hitter in the Grand Junction-Casper-Butte franchise history going back to 1978.

Austin Elder was the first to face him and worked a walk on a 3-2 count. Matt Hogan was next and finally (!!) the Vibes got their first hit. On a two-strike pitch Hogan hit a home run to right field to break up the no-hitter and the shutout.

Kleinsorge was lifted for Riyan Rodriguez for the save.

Rodriguez got Barmakian to fly out to center for the first out. Then Ethan Lopez homered to left-center, again on a two-strike pitch, to bring the Vibes closer at 4-3.

Then more hits. Dusty Stroup doubled and was hit in by Jacob Barfield on a single a batter later. Someway somehow the Vibes tied the game 4-4.

Chris Macca got the bottom of the inning and went through Washington, Ray, and Golda to send the game to a Knockout Round.

The third KO Round of the season saw Dusty Stroup face Ron Washington Jr. The Vibes' All-Star thirdbaseman topped Washington Jr., hitting 2 home runs to Jr.'s 1.

The near-miraculous comeback makes tomorrow's game a rubber match for the first part of the series before the two teams come to UCHealth Park for three games starting this Friday at 6:35 pm.