Rome 6, Charleston 5

The Rome Braves jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, before having to battle back to tie the game in the eighth. They then won on a sacrifice fly in the 11th to defeat the Charleston RiverDogs 6-5. The Braves scored three in the bottom of the second, all with two outs. Conner Lien had the big hit of the inning with a bases loaded single that plated two and moved the score to 3-0. Charleston got one back in the top of the seventh, and then in the top of the eighth they rallied to score four. After tying the game on running scoring singles by Mike Ford and Eduardo de Oleo, Yeicok Calderon hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot that put the RiverDogs ahead 5-4. The lead did not hold though as Sean Godfrey hit his third home run in the bottom half. The game remained tied until Lien drove in his third run of the game with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 11th to send the Braves to victory. Andy Otero (2-4) earned the win three scoreless innings of relief.

Savannah 6, Augusta 4

In a game shortened to seven innings due to rain, Savannah jumped out to a 3-0 lead, then fell behind 4-3 after a big third inning by Augusta, before finally scoring two in the sixth and one in the seventh to win 6-4. Yeixon Ruiz went a perfect 4-4 at the plate with two runs and an RBI, and Jorge Rivero drove in two for the winners. Alex Pantellodis (4-3) got the win for Savannah and Dawrin Frias recorded his third save of the season.

Asheville 5, West Virginia 3

The Asheville Tourists jumped out to a 3-0 lead, let the West Virginia creep back into the game to tie it, and then won the game with two in the seventh inning to maintain a four game lead over Savannah in the Southern Division. The Tourists got two RBI from both 1B Correlle Prime and DH Ashley Graeter, and Troy Neiman moved to 7-1 on the season for the victorious team from Asheville. Trent Daniel closed out the game for his 11th save of the season. Justin Topa continues to struggle for the Power, dropping to 3-8 on the season. Austin Meadows went 3-4 in a losing effort, raising his average to .351.

Greensboro 6, Hickory 1

The Greensboro Grasshoppers broke open a close game with four runs in the top of the ninth inning on their way to a 6-1 win over the Hickory Crawdads. The Grasshoppers clung to a 2-1 lead entering the ninth inning. Hiram Martinez walked to lead off. After a wild pitch Yefri Perez singled sending Martinez the third. J.T. Riddle popped out, but shortstop Michael De Leon made a bad throw to try to pickoff Martinez and this allowed Martinez to score. After Carlos Lopez walked, Brian Anderson hit a three-run home run, his fifth of the season. Anderson finished with four RBI on the day. Tyler Kane got his first win of the season, and Jose Arias recorded his first save.

Delmarva 6, Lakewood 3

The Delmarva Shorebirds were in control of this game virtually from the start as they went on to beat the Lakewood BlueClaws 6-3. The Shorebirds staked starter Steven Brault (8-8) to an early 2-0 lead and then he did the rest, going seven innings, giving up just a single run on five hits, while striking out five. Chance Sisco and Austins Wynns both had three hits for Delmarva, and Wynns also hit his first home run of the season and added three RBI to support the pitching of Brault. The BlueClaws mounted a rally against reliever Alex Santana in the ninth, scoring two before Donnie Hart came on to get the last out for his third save of the season.

Hagerstown 5, Kannapolis 3

The Hagerstown Suns trailed the Kannapolis Intimidators 2-1 entering the bottom of the fifth, then put together four successive innings where they scored a single run on their way to a 5-3 victory. Every Suns player, except Brennan Middleton, had at least one hit and five different players scored for Hagerstown. Carl Thomas went 2-4 with a run, two RBI and his first home run of the season in a losing effort for Kannapolis. Ryan Ullmann (4-1) recorded the win and David Napoli closed out the game for his fourth save of the year.

Greenville 5, Lexington 0

The Greenville Drive got 6.2 scoreless innings out of starter Trey Ball (3-9) on their way to blanking the Lexington Legends 5-0. Mike Davis pitched the other 2.1 innings to combine on the four-hit shutout, and no Lexington player reached scoring position during the game. Greenville got a two-run home run from Wendell Rijo, his eighth, and a solo shot from Kevin Mager, his sixth, to support the outstanding performance of Ball.

By Robert Pannier
Senior Baseball EditorMember of the IBWAA