[rink23]

Record: 73-53, 2nd, 3.5 GB Springfield
Tied 3-3 with two outs in the top of the 11th inning, Des Moines' Ziga Mukuru doubled and Justin Oates followed with an RBI single off St. Louis closer Craig Fritzler to lift the Harvesters to a 4-3 win at Busch Stadium (2006).
Fritzler, who already had pitched a scoreless 10th, struck out the first two batters in the 11th.
But Mukuru doubled down the first-base line on a 1-1 pitch.
Oates followed by dropping a fly ball into center to score Mukuru with the winning run.
The River Walkers had scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the third off Des Moines starting pitcher Josh Crespo -- pitcher Ming Xiang led off the inning with a single. He scored on a Ryan Wibbenmeyer triple. Manuel Coke drove in Wibbenmeyer with a fly ball to center -- to go up 3-1.
The Harvesters evened it up with single runs in the sixth and seventh, both off Xiang.
Leo Cerna connected on a two-out triple in the sixth to give the Harvesters their second run.
Fernando Mendoza evened matters with a lead-off homer in the seventh.
Crespo worked 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. He struck out two and walked one.
Former Walkers pitcher Jerry Tate finished the sixth and worked a scoreless seventh.
Davey Matteson and Bill Gomez both worked innings without allowing a run.
The win went to Mark Polzin (1-7), who pitched the 10th and 11th without allowing a base runner.