Gordon’s pinch-hitting heroics give Kernels walk-off win

CEDAR RAPIDS - The continued maturation and development of Nick Gordon continued Thursday night.

You already know the Cedar Rapids Kernels shortstop is solid and then some defensively. You know his offense is a work in progress, with that progress being made steadily and surely.

Now you know the fifth-overall draft pick last year can pinch hit. His RBI single to left with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Kernels a 5-4 win over Dayton before 2,935 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Cedar Rapids (64-46, 23-17) gave up a run in the top of the ninth but rallied for two to win walk-off style for the seventh time this season.

'Every day you've got to expect that situation,” Gordon said. 'You want to be the one in that situation. I knew that around the seventh or eighth inning, the game was close, that I needed to make sure that I was warm.”

Rafael Valera led off the home ninth with a single up the middle, aggressively taking second when Dayton center fielder Jonathan Reynoso couldn't field the ball cleanly. Edgar Corcino grounded to second to move Valera to third, and he scored on a good slide at the plate to beat a throw from Dragons shortstop Luis Gonzalez.

Gonzalez neatly backhanded a sharp grounder off the bat of Zack Larson with the infield in and threw home, just not in time. After a walk to Brett Doe and a groundout, Gordon was called upon to hit for Alex Real.

Dayton countered by bringing in lefty Brennan Bernardino to pitch against the lefty hitting Gordon. Bernardino fell behind in the count 3-0, got back to 3-2, only to have Gordon line one to left to win it.

'I just wanted to see a pitch that I could hit well and hit it,” said Gordon, who has improved his batting average from the .210s to .273. 'I saw two breaking balls early, and I figured that's what I'd see with runners in scoring position like that. Kind of worked a count there ... He ended up giving me a fastball, something I could hit.”

'Nick does a good job against lefties,” said Kernels Manager Jake Mauer. 'He doesn't back off, by any stretch of the matter. I was trying to get him a day off today because he's played something like 13 or 14 games in a row. I told him this afternoon ‘Hey, you're not playing, but you better be ready.' Just lucky he got a chance to come in there.” Mauer said he considered hitting Gordon for Pat Kelly in the eighth inning of a 3-3 game, when the Kernels had a first-and-third, one-out situation. Kelly and Tanner English ended up striking out.

'He's maturing, especially at the plate,” Mauer said. 'He has come a long way ... He's starting to tighten up his zone a little bit, not swinging at as many bad pitches. Not getting himself out as much. He's been working hard. He and (hitting coach) Tommy (Watkins) have been here early a lot. A lot a lot.”

Michael Theofanopoulos (5-2) got the win in relief for the Kernels, who begin a three-game home series with Bowling Green Friday night at 6:35.

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