The Mineral Wells Steam rallied from a 5-1 deficit Saturday night to defeat the Weatherford Wranglers, 8-5 in the 2005 Texas Collegiate League opener at Weatherford College’s Roger Williams Ballpark.

A capacity crowd of better than 600 fans witnessed the first night game at Roger Williams Ballpark. Lights were installed at the facility this past week.

Behind the pitching of lefthander Colt Hynes (North Central College), the Wranglers took a 5-1 lead into the 5th inning. Weatherford had snapped a 1-1 tie with 4 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning, the big hit being a 2-run single by Joe Newman (UTA).

Mineral Wells cut the margin to 5-2 on Parker Dalton’s (Texas A&M) rbi single in the 5th. The Steam then tied the game off relievers Kyle Gunderson (Rice) and Kyle Nicholson (Texas A&M) in the 6th. Clayton Kelly (Georgia) and Dalton each had run-producing singles in that frame.

The game stayed tie until the top of the 8th when Chris Rusler (Hutchinson CC) had a leadoff single. He was sacrificed to second by Adam Perry (Sam Houston). Kelly then laid down a bunt that catcher Nick Newberry (Weatherford College) threw into right field, allowing Rusler to score the go ahead run. Mineral Wells added a pair of insurance runs in the 9th.

Bryan Dykes (Lon Morris) pitched a scoreless 7th and earned the win in relief of starter James Halle (Louisiana College). Cory Gearrin (Young Harris College) blanked the Wranglers over the final 2 innings, striking out the side in the 9th, for the save. Nicholson was the loser.

The Steam and Wranglers conclude this season-opening weekend series on Sunday evening at Pratt Field in Mineral Wells. Gametime is 7:05 p.m.

The rest of the TCL teams open the season on Tuesday night.

Mineral Wells 8-10-1 WP: Dykes SV: Gearrin
Weatherford 5-8-4 LP: Nicholson