Rochester Red Wings 7, Charlotte Knights 5
The Knights (64-56) came out swinging when Rikuu Nishida coaxed a walk, then Junior Perez and Edgar Quero ripped back-to-back doubles for a quick 2-0 cushion. Riley Unroe chipped in with a solo blast in the second, and suddenly it was 3-0, Charlotte. But, as is tradition, the Knights’ pitching staff immediately set fire to the lead. Jonathan Cannon served up three runs in the bottom of the second, and the Red Wings tacked on two more in the third. Just like that, 5-3, Rochester.
Charlotte scraped across an unearned run in the sixth to make it 5-4, but Jaden Woods came in and immediately grooved a pitch for a solo homer, 6-4, Red Wings. Rochester tacked on another in the eighth off Garrett Schoenle, because of course they did. The Knights tried to muster some late magic in the ninth when Andy Weber punched a one-out single, Perez followed with another after Nishida lined out, and Edgar Quero delivered a clutch knock to score Weber. Caden Connor then worked a 10-pitch at-bat, but ultimately flied out to snuff out the rally and the game.
MVP
Edgar Quero: 3-for-5, 2 RBI, 2B
MVP Runners-Up
Riley Unroe: 1-for-3, R, RBI, BB, HR, 2 K
Junior Perez: 2-for-5, R, RBI, 2B, K
Mario Camilletti: 2-for-4, RBI
Joey Wiemer: 1-for-3, R, K, SB
Korey Lee: 1-for-4, PO, 2 K
Cold Cat
Jonathan Cannon: 5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 8 K
Cold Cat Runners-Up
Jaden Woods: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K
Garrett Schoenle: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, BB, 2 K
Columbus Clingstones 5, Birmingham Barons 3
Columbus struck first with a run off Connor McCullough in the top of the second, but the Barons (46-68) had an answer in the bottom of the frame when a pair of leadoff walks set up a clutch RBI single from Ryan Burrowes to knot things at 1-1. The Clingstones grabbed the lead right back in the fourth before Anthony DePino launched a two-run bomb in the home half to put Birmingham ahead, 3-2.
Apparently, no lead was allowed to survive long, though, and Columbus went yard in the fifth to tie it back up at 3-3. The deadlock dragged on until the eighth, when Pierce George issued a walk and then served up a two-run homer that put the Clingstones ahead for good, 5-3. Birmingham’s bats had nothing left for a comeback, with their only baserunner over the final two frames reaching on catcher’s interference. The Barons managed just three hits and three walks on the day and somehow mustered only two at-bats with runners in scoring position, as the offense simply couldn’t generate enough to keep the back-and-forth battle going.
MVP
Anthony DePino: 1-for-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, HR
MVP Runners-Up
Ryan Burrowes: 1-for-4, K
Grant Magill: 1-for-2, RBI
Connor McCullough: 4 2/3 IP, 7 H, 3 R (2 ER), BB, 4 K
Cold Cat
Pierce George: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, BB, L
Cold Cat Runners-Up
Caleb Bonemer: 0-for-4, 3 K
Dylan Campbell: 0-for-3, K
Colby Shelton: 0-for-3, BB, 2 K
Jose Colmenares: 0-for-3, E
Winston-Salem Dash 7, Greensboro Grasshoppers 4
Roch Cholowsky got the day off, but the Dash (62-51) offense managed just fine without its newest prospect. Jeral Perez got things rolling with a solo blast in the second, and George Wolkow followed with his 19th bomb in the fourth.
Bryce Eblin also contributed by working a bases-loaded walk, 3-0, Dash. Greensboro finally scratched one across in the fifth, but Perez snatched it right back with his second homer of the night in the sixth. 4-1, Dash.
The Grasshoppers made it interesting with a two-spot in the sixth, trimming the lead to 4-3 and ending an otherwise solid night for Justin Sinibaldi. The Winston-Salem starter went 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits and three walks while striking out four. But the Dash weren’t having it. In the seventh inning with two outs, Wolkow drew a walk, Perez and Kaleb Freeman ripped back-to-back doubles, and suddenly it was 6-3. Greensboro didn’t lie down, scoring a run in the eighth, but the Dash tacked on one more in the ninth — a walk to Lodise, a Wolkow single, a Perez RBI double, and ballgame.
MVP
Jeral Perez: 4-for-5, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR, 2B
MVP Runners-Up
George Wolkow: 2-for-4, 2 R, RBI, BB, HR
Wes Kath: 3-for-5, K
Kaleb Freeman: 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, HBP, 3 K
Justin Sinibaldi: 5 2/3 IP, 5 H, 3 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 4 K, WP, B, E, W
Aric McAtee: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, K
Cold Cat
Ely Brown: 0-for-5
Cold Cat Runners-Up
Javier Mogollón: 0-for-5
Caedom Parker: 2 IP, 3 H, R, 2 BB, 2 K, H
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 6, Hickory Crawdads 5
This game was pure baseball craziness. For nine innings, there were zero runs, with the Ballers’ (60-54) bats stuck in the freezer during regulation with just four hits. Then came the 10th inning, and still nothing. The deadlock finally snapped in the 11th when the Crawdads plated their ghost runner with a double. Kanny punched back, though, when Jake Berkland did the small ball thing, moving Efren Teran over with a sac bunt, and a wild pitch did the rest. The Crawdads pushed across two more in the 12th on a double after a fielder’s choice and a single.
Kanny refused to roll over. Grayson Fitzwater ripped a double to cut it to 3-2, then came a little chaos — a wild pitch, a walk, a force out and a single — and suddenly it was 3-3. Hickory tried to put it away in the 13th with two more tallies, but the Ballers had other plans. Jaden Fauske doubled, Matthew Boughton walked, and Fitzwater — again — lasered a triple to walk it off, 6-5. Kannapolis pitching was nails. Alexander Martinez spun four scoreless to start, then five more arms followed to keep Hickory off the board for the next five.
MVP
Grayson Fitzwater: 2-for-6, R, 3 RBI, 2B, 3B, E, 2 K
MVP Runners-Up
Jaden Fauske: 2-for-6, R, 2B, 2 K
Clay Burdette: 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K
Jake Berkland: 2-for-3, R, BB, 3B, SAC, CS, K
Matthew Boughton: 1-for-5, 2 R, BB
Alexander Martinez: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K
Ryan Schiefer: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K
Grant Cleavinger: 1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
Cold Cat
Andrew Berg: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R (1 ER), 0 BB, K
Cold Cat Runners-Up
Stiven Flores: 0-for-4, 2 K
Alexander Albertus: 0-for-4, K