Charlotte 7, Lehigh Valley 5
The Knights went on a hit parade in front of BB&T Ballpark’s largest crowd ever, 10,643. Matt Tuiasosopo went 2-2 with two home runs and two walks, with one of those home runs being a grandslam in the first inning. Tuiasosopo finished with five RBIs to lead the team. Tyler Saladino had a great game, going 3-4 with a walk, double and two RBIs. Leury Garcia went 4-5 in the leadoff spot with a double. Trayce Thompson went 1-4 and Tyler Colvin went 2-4, each getting a double.
Brad Penny only went four innings, but struck out four and allowed only one earned run off of four hits. Sean Hagan pitched three scoreless innings en route to the win (in his AAA debut) and Zach Isler had a rough time, giving up two runs in each of the last two innings and he currently has an era of 18.00.
Jacksonville 3, Birmingham 2
The offense would like to sweep this game under the rug. Jacob May, Joey DeMichele, Christian Marrero and Marcus Lemon got the only four hits for the Barons. All of them were singles aside from Marrero’s solo shot. Danny Hayes also reached base on a walk.
Tyler Barnette started the game, only throwing 18 pitches over two innings before handing it off to Tony Bucciferro, who gave up three runs in his four innings of work to take the loss. Recent acquisition Blake Smith did strike out five batters in 2.2 innings of work.
Winston-Salem 8, Lynchburg 1
The Dash blew out the Hillcats behind an all-around offensive outburst. Trey Michalczewski had two RBIs after hitting his fifth home run, Jake Peter went 2-2 with a double and two RBIs, Cleuluis Rondon went 1-3 and got two RBIs on his own and Tyler Williams had a rare appearance where he had a two-RBI triple. Chris Jacobs and Omar Narvaez each went 2-4.
Starter Matt Heidenreich didn’t even need the offensive explosion. Heidenreich went six innings and only allowed one run, unearned, on six hits and two walks while striking out four. The former second round draft pick has a 1.78 ERA on the year. Andre Wheeler struck out five in relief, pitching two innings of one hit ball.
Hagerstown 12, Kannapolis 6
The Intimidators were up 6-1 at one point, but that all fell away as Luis Martinez had a rough start after giving up six runs in 3.1 innings, walking four and only striking out two. It didn’t help that he gave up two home runs. Tanner Banks pitched in relief and gave up three runs in 1.2 innings. Connor Walsh gave up two unearned runs in 0.2 innings and Brad Salgado gave up one in closing out the game, though he led the team with three strikeouts.
On the offensive side of the ball Nick Basto went 1-3 with two RBIs off of a double. Eddy Alvarez reached base twice with a double and walk while also getting an RBI. Louie Lechich and James Baldwin each had two hits and an RBI.
Saturday probables
Charlotte: Erik Johnson (4-3, 4.60)
Birmingham: Frankie Montas (0-1, 3.60)
Winston-Salem: James Dykstra (3-2, 2.89)
Kannapolis: Thaddius Lowry (4-2, 4.18)
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