Bowling Green Hot Rods infielder Miles Mastrobuoni had been a part of walk-off wins before.

On Saturday, he got to make it happen himself.

Mastrobuoni’s double in the bottom of the 11th inning capped a second rally for the Hot Rods, who outlasted Peoria (Ill.) 8-7 on Saturday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

The Hot Rods lost two leads in regulation and needed a two-run homer from Jonah Heim in the ninth to tie it before Mastrobuoni delivered the first walk-off hit of his professional career.

“I’ve been on base, but I haven’t been at the plate,” Mastrobuoni said. “It felt good. It is always good to get a win for the guys and everything. Everyone battled really hard tonight and stayed in it. It was good to get the ‘W’ at the end of the day.”

Bowling Green (49-47 overall, 18-11 second half) scored first on an RBI single in the first, but Peoria (46-52, 16-12) came back with single runs in the second and third and a two-run rally in the fourth to surge ahead 4-1.

The Hot Rods came roaring back.

Josh Lowe connected on a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth to trim the deficit to one. One inning later, Bobby Melley tied the score on an RBI single and Eleardo Cabrera added an RBI triple to push BG in front 5-4.

It was short-lived, however, as former WKU infielder Danny Hudzina tied the score with an RBI single in the top of the sixth.

It remained tied until the ninth when Peter Bayer surrendered a single and three straight walks, the last one to Juan Yepez with the bases loaded to force in the go-ahead run. Two batters later, Hudzina struck again with another RBI single to make the score 7-5.

Bowling Green answered with a two-run homer from Heim in the bottom of the ninth, but missed a chance to walk it off when Lowe struck out on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Sanchez threw a runner out at the plate to end the 10th and keep the score tied, setting up Mastrobuoni’s game-winning hit – a ringing double off the right-field fence with two on and one out.

“It was good to come back,” Mastrobuoni said. “We were able to rally in the bottom of the ninth. Jonah hits that bomb to get it tied back up and (relief pitcher Joe Serrapica) did well. I was able to get a pitch I could handle and was able to do something with it.”

Mastrobuoni and Lowe finished with four hits each, while Sanchez and Robbie Tenerowicz had three hits each. The Hot Rods finished with 21 hits.

Serrapica tossed two scoreless innings to earn the win, improving to 1-1 on the season.

Bootleggers Return

The Hot Rods brought back one of 2016’s most popular promotions, changing the team name to the Bowling Green Bootleggers on Saturday.

In honor of the event, the Hot Rods wore special Bootlegger jerseys that were auctioned off with proceeds going to the Alzheimer’s Association. The first 500 fans 21 and older also received a special Bowling Green Bootleggers flask.

Up Next

The series continues at 4:05 p.m. on Sunday.

Right-hander Adrian Navas (7-8, 5.96) is scheduled to start for the Hot Rods. Navas has worked seven innings in three straight starts, allowing three earned runs total with 21 strikeouts, to go 3-0 in those starts. He worked seven shutout innings in his last start at Clinton (Iowa) on July 16.

Left-hander Ian Oxnevad (3-8, 3.94) is scheduled to start for the Chiefs. He is 1-1 with a 3.96 ERA in four July starts. He did not get a decision in his last start against Fort Wayne (Ind.) on July 17, allowing one run and two hits in seven innings.