Gwinnett Stripers 9, Charlotte Knights 5
Shane Smith, battered last time out, gave Charlotte (14-16) what they needed with two scoreless. He surrendered only one hit, two walks, and three Ks. Of course, the good times didn’t last long.
Enter Chase Plymell, and cue the disaster reel. Three singles, then a meatball grand slam in the third. He stuck around to give up two more in the fourth, just for good measure.
To their credit, though, the Knights didn’t go quietly.
Charlotte got on board in the third when Rikuu Nishida worked a walk and hustled home on an Oliver Dunn double. Then Ryan Galanie finally woke up the bats with a two-run shot in the fourth, trimming the deficit to 6-3.
Charlotte kept scratching. In the fifth inning, Jacob Gonzalez singled, Korey Lee walked, and suddenly there were two on and nobody out. After a whiff, both runners swiped a bag, and Caden Connor lofted a sac fly to bring Gonzalez in. Just like that, it was a two-run game.
For a moment, it felt like the Knights might claw all the way back.
But every time they inched closer, Gwinnett had an answer. The Stripers added a tally in the seventh off Brandon Eisert, and while Charlotte responded in the bottom half, highlighted by a leadoff double from Lee and an RBI single from Connor, that was as far as the rally would go.
Finally, Gwinnett tacked on two more in the eighth to put the game out of reach.
Chattanooga Lookouts 8, Birmingham Barons 3
Eight walks, five hits, and not much timely contact. On the other hand, Chattanooga spent the night hitting whatever the Barons (10-14) hurlers lobbed their way.
Jake Palisch got lit up early for four runs, on four hits, two walks, and just two Ks in 3 2/3 innings. The Lookouts never let up, either. Jake Bockenstedt gave up another tally in the sixth on back-to-back doubles, and by the seventh, Mark McLaughlin gave up three more runs.
The Baron’s bats were silent. For four innings, there wasn’t a hit in sight. Finally, Jorge Corona snapped the spell with a leadoff single in the fifth. That base hit kicked off the lone Barons rally when Sprinkle doubled, and Corona scored on a wild pitch. Then, Sprinkle trotted home on a ground out, and Makarewicz doubled, stole third, and scored on yet another wild pitch. Three runs, though. That’s all they’d get.
Greensboro Grasshoppers 4, Winston-Salem Dash 3
Starter Justin Sinibaldi gave up two runs before the seats were warm, and just like that, the Dash (15-9) were chasing. To their credit, they did punch back.
Ryan Burrowes opened the bottom of the first with a single, swiped second, and after Bonemer struck out, Colby Shelton drew a walk. The pair pulled off a double steal, and Anthony DePino cashed in Burrowes with a sac fly. One hit, one run, and a little hope.
Greensboro padded their lead with two runs in the fifth, and the Dash spent the middle innings treading water. The real push didn’t come until the seventh when Grant Magill jolted the offense awake with a triple, and Alex Ungar immediately doubled him home. Ungar moved up on a grounder, then Bonemer dunked a single into left. Suddenly, it was 4–3. It felt like the dam might finally break as Shelton walked putting two on, but DePino rolled over to short, and that was that.
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 11, Augusta GreenJackets 6
Kannapolis (8-16) wasted no time setting the tone. After a quick out in the first, Billy Carlson poked a single, Matthew Boughton worked a walk, and Stiven Flores followed with a base hit to jam the bases. Enter Rylan Galvan, who didn’t miss — launching a grand slam to put the Ballers up 4–0.
They kept the pressure on in the fifth. Boughton singled to start things, and back-to-back walks to Galvan and James Taussig loaded the bases once again. Marcelo Ácala was then plunked, forcing in a run, and Arxy Hernández lasered a line drive to left to bring home two more, stretching the lead to 7–0, and the rout looked on.
The inning ended chaotically, though. After Hernández’s single, Augusta turned a wild 7-2-6-2-5 double play that started with Ácala getting erased at the plate and ended with Hernández caught red-handed trying to swipe second. Rally over, confusion reigns.
Augusta, not content to roll over, answered back with five in the bottom half, slicing the lead to 7-5 and turning what looked like a laugher into a nail-biter. But the Ballers weren’t done swinging.
In the seventh, with two outs and the bases empty, Boughton singled to keep the inning alive. A walk to Galvan and another to Taussig packed the sacks again. After a pitching change and a strikeout of Ácala, Hernández stepped in and this time delivered the dagger, crushing a grand slam to center to blow the game open at 11–5. From there, Kannapolis had plenty of breathing room to close it out.