Ramblers walk off to victory

An early 4-0 deficit failed to stop Key West from picking up win No. 15 on Tuesday at A.J. Spiegel Park in Peosta, Iowa. Dan Spain's hot shot with two outs in the bottom of the ninth eluded the third baseman scoring Tanner Denlinger to complete the rally and give the Ramblers a 6-5 Eastern Iowa Hawkeye League victory over Rickardsville.

Key West (15-2) began the bottom of the ninth down 5-4 and appeared in serious trouble after a Kenny Capesius strikeout pinned the Ramblers down to their final out with two men on base and still trailing by a single run. Ryan Kelly then responded with a two-strike base hit to plate Ben Cottrell for the tying run. Spain followed with a smash to the third baseman, who was charged with an error, allowing the winning tally to score off of Rickardsville pitcher Jeremy Gerardy.

Behind singles by Ryan Jantsch, Eric Banwarth and Connor Grant and a key error with two outs, Rickardsville pushed across four runs in the second inning to draw first blood. Just two of the four runs scored in the inning off of starting pitcher Ryan Kelly were earned.

The Ramblers waited until the fifth inning to get on the board against Rickardsville starter Tim Felderman. After Spain reached on error with one out in the frame, Spencer Kuehn tripled home the Key West shortstop. Kuehn scored on the very next batter as Chris Briggs grounded to second base for the final tally of the fifth.

Rickardsville added a run in the top of the sixth, again with the aid of a shaky Key West defense. Kelly departed at the end of six trailing 5-2. He gave up just three hits and only two earned runs, while striking out three in his second start of the season.

The Ramblers tightened the score with single runs in both the sixth and eighth innings. RBI singles by Capesius and Briggs made it a one-run ballgame heading into the ninth.

Spain, working in his third inning of relief on Tuesday in the top of the ninth, shut down the top three hitters in the Rickardsville lineup in order to begin the pivotal frame. Spain notched his first win of 2012 by firing three scoreless innings after taking over for Kelly in the seventh. He gave up only one hit and struck out three.

Kuehn and Cottrell led the way for the 14-hit Rambler attack, each recording a 3-for-5 night at the plate. Briggs (2-for-4), Cory Davidson (2-for-4) and Kelly (2-for-6) also collected at least two hits for the victors. For much of the night, Key West was unable to take advantage of its multitude of hits, as it stranded 15 on base.

Tuesday's game marked the first home contest of the season played at Peosta. The Ramblers were 5-2 when hosting at A.J. Spiegel Park in 2011.

Key West returns to tournament action on Sunday when it plays Dubuque at 2 p.m. in the first round of the Farley Tournament. The two squads have split a pair of meetings this season.