Baseball: Auckland Tuatara claim series win over Sydney Blue Sox with walk-off home run

Kim Won-seok was the hero for the Tuatara. Credit: Photo - Photosport; Video - Sky Sports

The Auckland Tuatara have claimed another series win after a thrilling 7-4 victory over the Sydney Blue Sox at North Harbour Stadium.

Having already beaten Sydney 5-2 earlier in the day, Auckland were determined to win the second game of the double-header and move to the top of the northeast division. 

They did it the hard way though, overcoming a 4-1 deficit after three and a half innings, before Kim Won-seok's three-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh secured a sixth-straight Australian Baseball League for Auckland. 

"That's the best way to win," Tuatara manager Steve Mintz said. "Kim works so hard and I'm very happy for him.

"The crowd was just amazing tonight and hopefully they will all come back tomorrow when we try to go for our first series sweep."

Auckland have now won nine of their last 10 games, and have won three consecutive series. 

After Sydney took the early lead, Kim tied the scores with a massive home run. But the Tuatara found themselves down 4-1 after Jack Murphy's first homer of the season broke the deadlock.

But the Tuatara, riding a massive amount of momentum at present and spurred on by the crowd, chipped away at the deficit.

Kim drove in another run before new recruit Josh McAdams hit his first home run of the season.

The Tuatara tied things up in the bottom of the sixth before Kim's shot to right centre secured a spectacular two-out walk-off win.

Mintz's side will go for a first-ever series sweep at 1pm on Sunday, but will finish the weekend in first place no matter what.

Contact Newshub with your story tips:
news@newshub.co.nz