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A Rison to Believe: The Sun Kings Walk It Off Against Tampa

At just 26, El Paso’s Joe Rison has emerged as his team’s most important player, and he showed it tonight with a walk-off hit to down the Tampa Tarpons and put El Paso into a tie for second in the D1 West, two behind the Los Angeles Angels.

Longtime El Paso starter John Belheumer, who provided El Paso with its biggest highlight of the season with his May no-hitter against Brooklyn, worked around two walks and a double over his first four innings, striking out six. But Tampa’s young Nick Anderson matched Belheumer, walking four but not allowing a hit over the same span.

The fifth inning broke the duel. In the top of the inning, Belheumer issued his third walk, to light-hitting SS Willie Soto. Catcher Bill Wheeler singled on a slow seeing-eye grounder into right, and Soto took advantage, winding up on third with no one out. That proved crucial, as he was able to score on Seth LaBarr’s double play, giving Tampa its first run.

El Paso struck back fast in the bottom of the inning, with Eduardo Garcia lacing a double down the LF line on the first pitch he saw from Anderson. Jesus Hernandez hit a slow roller that Clawson took himself, but it got Garcia to third so that he could score on Tom Knighton’s groundout. It looked almost like a mirror of Tampa’s 5th until C Clint Rose hammered a ball into the Sun Deck in right field, 404 feet away, to make it 2-1 Kings.

Belheumer had to work hard in the sixth, starting with a nine pitch AB to Justin Paul that finally ended with a strikeout. Paul Lechter singled and stole second, but Clawson flew to center for out number two. Another long plate appearance followed as Juan Bonson fouled off five pitches. The last foul should have ended the inning, but Rose botched it giving Tampa’s young 3B life; Belheumer’s next pitch was wide, putting men on second and third for Aaron Soucy. Soucy, too, worked a full count, but this time Belheumer got his man, striking out his eighth and final batter and keeping his team’s lead intact.

Anderson walked two more in the sixth, giving him six on the night, but a double play erased the first while the second was left stranded when Chris Beardsley flew to center.

El Paso relief ace Jason Bodnar came out in place of Belheumer in the 7th, and would have had a 1-2-3 inning but for an error by Rison in left; he got out of it two pitches later with a groundout. Anderson had to work harder in his half of the inning to escape scoreless, but he did, striking out Rison with runners on first and third.

So heading into inning eight, the game remained tight, at 2-1 El Paso. But things went south for Bodnar quickly. Justin Paul swung at the first pitch and lined it to right center for a single, though he was replaced at first by Paul Lechter after a fielder’s choice. In the end, that switch didn’t matter as Jon Clawson smashed a ball out to right center, 415 feet, to give Tampa a late 3-2 lead. Bodnar recovered the K Bonson and Soucy, but the damage was done, and El Paso had little time to recover.

Chad Leahey struck out leading off the bottom of the eighth against Anderson, but when El Paso superstar Brian Castrovinci lined a single into left Tampa manager Vince Lorek had seen enough, pulling the youngster in favor of Steve Neldon. Nelson got out two, a fly ball after a seven pitch AB to Kevin Kersey. But Beardsley, who flew out to end the sixth, hit this one more on the nose: it got over CF T.J. Carcone’s head and rolled to the wall, giving Beardsley a double and scoring the tying run. The inning ended there, but the game was now knotted at 3 going into the ninth.

Bodnar didn’t give Tampa a shot in the frame, needing nine pitches to retire Julio Landin, Wheeler, and LaBarr in two groundouts and a popup, sending it back to the El Paso side for a chance at a walk-off. Lorek replaced Neldon with lefty closer Billy Walters, but Walters walked Jesus Hernandez to open things up. He got Knighton swinging, but Clint Rose came through again, shooting a line drive into left. The ball was hit so hard that Hernandez froze a bit, and didn’t recover in time to score, so Rison came up instead with runners on second and third. He delivered when it counted, hitting a scorching ball through the 5-6 hole as Hernandez scampered home with the winning run and the El Paso crowd cheered wildly at the spectacle.