‘It was one of the best feelings ever’: Doggy Paddlers walk off as winners thanks to Bond’s extra-inning home run

QUINCY — The best ice water bath of Krew Bond’s life came courtesy of one his teammates after he delivered the biggest swing of the season for the Quincy Doggy Paddlers.

Bond’s walk-off two-run home run leading off the bottom of the 11th inning on Wednesday punctuated a 13-11 Doggy Paddlers victory over the Alton River Dragons in Prospect League action at QU Stadium.

“It was crazy,” Bond said. “It was one of the best feelings ever.”

Bond turned on a 1-1 pitch from Alton sidewinding right-hander Connor Ziman and hit a line drive that did not clear the stone wall in left field with much room to spare.

For the few seconds Bond’s blast was in the air, Quincy field manager and third base coach Brad Gyorkos was more concerned with Brady Kindhart, the runner at second.

“To be honest with you, I was kind of mad that Brady was going back and tagging because I thought if it hit the fence, he wouldn’t have been able to score,” Gyorkos said. “That’s the first thing that popped in my head, but other than that, I thought he got it pretty good. Just height wise, I didn’t know if he got it.”

But after it sailed into the parking lot, Bond circled the bases, jumped into the mob of Doggy Paddlers players waiting for him at home plate and got doused with ice water thanks to Quincy catcher Jake Merda, who toted the jug from the dugout.

“All I heard was yelling, and I got wet from a bunch of water,” Bond said. “That’s all I remember.”

Bond was thankful to get the green light from Gyorkos to swing away.

“I was going to bunt because at my college, that’s an automatic bunt situation, but they told me to hit,” Bond said.

That is exactly what he did.

“It was a wild game, but I’m glad it ended our way,” Bond said.

Bond would not have had a chance to become the hero if not for the Doggy Paddlers’ rallies in the ninth and 10th innings. After the River Dragons scored three runs in the top of the top of the ninth, Kindhart smoked a one-out, two-run double to the wall in center field to bring the Doggy Paddlers within a run.

After Bond walked and Harry Oden struck out, Wandel Campana legged out an infield single — the Doggy Paddlers’ fifth infield hit of the game — to score Kindhart and tie the game. Jameson Johnson then grounded out to first and lost the race to the bag to Bryer Arview with both players diving headfirst into the base, sending the game to extra innings

A two-out, two-RBI single by Grant Shepherd gave the River Dragons an 11-9 lead in the top of the 10th, but the Doggy Paddlers immediately answered. Jimmy Koza, who entered as a pinch runner for Tyler Butina in the seventh, hit a ball to a similar spot as Kindhart’s double, but center fielder Joe Connolly struggled playing the ball off the wall, allowing Koza to motor around the bases for an inside-the-park home run.

“I wish I could say that’s the first time I’ve seen him hit an inside-the-park homer to tie or win the game, but it’s not,” said Gyorkos, who was Koza’s field manager for the Gems in 2023 and the Lucky Horseshoes in 2024. “We’ve got a lot of guys in the dugout who have been there, done that. It’s nice to start finally stringing things together.”

Left-handed reliever Noah Wilder worked a scoreless top of the 11th, setting the stage for Bond’s game-winning swing.

Bond was also afforded the chance to walk off the River Dragons thanks to sparkling defensive plays by Quincy’s corner outfielders. In the top of the eighth with the game tied at six, no outs and runners on second and third, right fielder Tommy Harrison slid to make a catch in right-center field and rob Isaac Lemanski of a base hit. Harrison popped to his feet and fired a strike to Merda at the plate, who tagged out Tanner Aoki for the second out.

Two batters later, with runners at first and second and the game still tied, Oden made a diving catch down the left field line to take away extra bases and potentially two RBIs from Jayden Patel.

“It takes everything,” Gyorkos said. “You have to pitch well, play defense, and hit, and the defense took care of us in the eighth. If we don’t make those plays, we don’t win the game, and we’re probably home an hour and a half ago. I’m super happy that in big moments, we have some guys who can step up.”

The Doggy Paddlers (6-7) captured some momentum and took some away from the River Dragons (6-6), who had won four consecutive games before Wednesday. Quincy will host the Burlington Bees on Thursday with a chance to get to .500 for the first time this season.

“I told our assistants, ‘When you win games like that, it can give you some momentum to go do some special things,’” Gyorkos said. “It’s a big week for us. Hopefully we can get a good night’s sleep, get out here, have a good BP and go win tomorrow.”