Karpathios earns Player of Week honors to spark Missions in final homestand
· Yahoo Sports
A thrilling comeback highlighted the San Antonio Missions final homestand of the season, which ended in a 3-3 split series with the Midland RockHounds.
After having lost eight of their last nine on the road, the friendly confines of the Wolff Stadium helped to rejuvenate San Antonio (27-36), as the bats came alive for Missions in the first two games against Midland (31-32), resulting in 7-1 and 13-5 wins.
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The Missions scattered a total of 33 hits in the two victories, with outfielder Braedon Karpathios leading the way for San Antonio with a home run in each of the two games. In the second game, a 13-5 win last Wednesday, three Missions hit dingers, part of a season high 19 hits for San Antonio.
Midland won the third game of the series, 3-0, on Thursday, setting up the come from behind Missions 8-7 win on Friday. The bats cooled off for the Missions in the last two games against Midland in 10-2 and 5-1 losses on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Missions manager Chris Tremie said the past week was productive for the ballclub.
"I thought it was productive in a lot of ways," Tremie said. "We played good early in the week, especially the first game, a really good offensive day for us. Had some good performances early on. The last two games were the other side of the coin, but overall, pretty productive week for player development."
Karpathios earns honors:Karpathios was named Texas League Player of the Week for his performance in the Midland series, where he went 14-22 (.636) with 13 RBIs, three doubles and two home runs. He has an eight-game hitting streak, including multiple hits in seven straight games.
"Karpathios has obviously been on a tear for a while now and got a chance to talk with him about just staying consistent and with a plan," Tremie said. "He's got a plan; he's been sticking to it. He's got good pitches to hit and hasn't chased out of the zone as much. It's good to have that feeling when you're a hitter."
Karpathios started the week with a grand slam in the second inning of the 7-1 win last Tuesday, jump starting a San Antonio attack with 14 hits.
The slugging outfielder continued his tear at the plate with a five hit performance the following night, including a solo homer, in the Missions 13-5 win on Wednesday, becoming the first Mission to get five hits in a game since Brandon Valenzuela did it in May 2025 in Midland.
Karpathios leads the Missions with 73 RBIs and 17 homers, with his 17 home runs the most for a San Antonio player since Keston Hiura belted 19 in 2019.
Trio of sluggers power Missions: Karpathios wasn't the only Mission to have a solid performance at the plate last week.
Albert Fabian, Tirso Ornelas and Anthony Vilar also hit dingers for San Antonio. Fabian blasted a two-run shot in the 7-1 win last Tuesday, while Ornelas, Vilar and Karpathios each homered in the 13-5 win on Wednesday. In that game, Ornelas hit a three-run homer with Vilar and Karpathios contributing solo shots as every Mission in the batting order got a hit.
"Especially in those (first) two games, we did a nice job against their pitcher, had a little bit of a command issues behind the count, we were able to take advantage of some of their mistakes and have consistent at bats," Tremie said. "Really kind of the key to the three games that we won and also the key to the opposite end to the three games we lost."
Down but not out:Playing as the Las Flying Chanclas on Friday, San Antonio rallied from a five-run deficit to defeat Midland 8-7 in a thrilling finish for the home fans.
Trailing 4-0, Ornelas gave the Flying Chanclas a boost when he hit his second home run of the series, a solo blast over the center field wall in the fourth inning.
After the RockHounds tacked on two more runs in the fifth for a 6-1 lead, San Antonio got back in the game with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, spearheaded by a two-run double from Karpathios. A wild pitch and an RBI double from Ornelas brought the Missions within 6-5. San Antonio tied the game in the seventh when Romeo Sanabria singled to score Karpathios, who had reached base on his second double of the game.
Midland would retake the lead in the eighth inning, but the Flying Chanclas responded again, as Luis Verdugo and Wyatt Hoffman strung together back-to-back hits and pulled off a double steal to put runners in scoring position, with Karpathios delivering again with a two-run single.
Josh Mallitz sealed the win for San Antonio on the mound, getting out of a jam in the ninth after giving up a walk and a hit with one out by forcing the next two Midland batters to pop out and groundout for the final two outs.
The final stretch:The Missions, who have been eliminated from playoff contention, start the final six-game series of the season Tuesday in Amarillo (36-27). First pitch is at 6:35 p.m. from Hodgetown Park.
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