Spartanburgers hold off Winston-Salem
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Hub City struck early and often Wednesday, and after blowing a late lead the day prior, survived a nervy ending. The Spartanburgers (25-22) snatched a 7-6 win away from the Winston Salem Dash (16-31) at Fifth Third Park. The Dash had the tying and go-ahead runs on board in the top of the ninth, but Adonis Villavicencio closed the door for his first High-A save.
Gleider Figuereo blasted his team-leading eighth long ball of the season to put the Spartanburgers in the lead; although that lead was challenged, it wouldn't be overtaken. Figuereo, Dylan Dreiling and Julian Brock all put together multi-hit games. Theo Hardy reached base all four times he came to the plate.
Hub City starter Aidan Curry, who struck out six in four innings of work, only allowed one run on three hits and two walks. Joey Danielson (W, 2-1) pitched a scoreless fifth inning. Winston-Salem's offense whittled down the Spartanburgers' lead, but Villavicencio (S, 1) closed the game out.
Hub City struck early against Winston Salem's southpaw starter Christian Oppor (L, 0-2). Casey Cook and Dreiling started the 'Burger at-bats with back-to-back singles, then executed a double steal. Figuereo was hit by a pitch to load the bases, then Anthony Gutierrez hit a line drive to short. Dash shortstop Jeral Perez made the snag, but threw the ball away attempting to double up Dreiling at second base. Cook sped home on the throwing error to guide the Spartanburgers to an early 1-0 lead.
The Dash responded in the top of the second, as Alec Makarewicz singled Matt Hogan home to tie the contest at one run apiece. But the Spartanburgers answered and retook the lead with a solo shot from Figuereo which scraped the Spartanburg sky and cleared the right field fence.
Oppor's outing ended in the bottom of the fourth. After allowing a walk and a hit, the left-hander gave way to Winston-Salem bullpen arm Connery Peters, who promptly ceded an RBI single to Hardy, and two batters later, a two-RBI triple to Dreiling. Peters gave up another run in the fifth on two walks and a fielders' choice. Hub City led, 6-1, after five frames.
Against lefty Dylan MacLean, Winston-Salem got a run back in the sixth after Hogan led the inning off with a triple. The Dash tacked on two more runs in the seventh, capitalizing on a dropped popup. With two outs, Jeral Perez mashed his 11th home run of the season to put Winston-Salem back within two runs.
The two teams traded runs in the eighth. Jordan Sprinkle knocked a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to one. Josh Mollerus then stranded the tying run in scoring position. Hub City rebuilt their lead in the bottom half when Cook walked with the bases loaded.
Mollerus returned to the mound in the ninth, but Cole McConnell led the inning off with a solo home run. Villavicencio took the spot of Mollerus in trying to record the final three outs. After a pair of groundouts, a hit batter and single put the tying run at third base for the Dash. Villavicencio struk out Wes Kath to seal the victory.
Hub City and Winston-Salem split the first two games of the series. Game three is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. ET on Thursday. The Spartanburgers are expected to start RHP Kolton Curtis (1-1, 4.76 ERA) while the Dash are set to send LHP Frankeli Arias (1-1, 5.40 ERA) to the mound.
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