Chris Walsh’s leadoff homer in the top of the 11th inning snapped a 1-1 tie as the Weatherford Wranglers defeated the Mineral Wells Steam, 7-3 on Sunday night at Pratt Field to earn a split in the weekend series that opened the 2005 TCL season.

Walsh, the designated hitter from Abilene Christian, went deep off losing pitcher Cody Gearrin (Young Harris), who came on to start the 11th. The Wranglers went on to score five more times in the inning off three Stream pitchers. Nick Newberry (Weatherford College) and Michael Harkins (Lubbock Christian) also had rbi hits in the inning.

Mineral Wells scored twice in the bottom of the 11th off Kyle Nicholson (Texas A&M) on a pair of hits by his Aggie teammates, Parker Dalton’s triple and Todd Sebek’s single to complete the scoring.

Neither team mounted much of an offensive threat through the 1st 10 innings. The Steam to a 1-0 lead in the 3rd on Stephen Bradshaw’s (Eastern Michigan) ground out. The Wranglers countered in the top of the 4th on Walsh’s grounder before the game was scoreless over the next 6 innings.

Weatherford starter Shea Hancock (Houston) allowed 3 hits and a run in his 4.1 innings. Hart Hering (Texas A&M) pitched 2 shutout frames and was the winner. Mineral Wells starter Tyson Bagley (Westmont College) issued just one hit and fanned 7 in his 5-inning stint.

The two teams combined for 25 strikeouts and 20 walks in a game that took over 4 hours to play.

The Wranglers and Steam split the home and home weekend series to open the 2005 TCL season. The remainder of the teams begin Tuesday night, when four games are on tap.