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Another day, another Caleb Bonemer moonshot. The Dash infielder crushed his 15th long ball of the year Sunday night. | Caleb Bonemer/Instagram
Charlotte Knights 3, Gwinnett Stripers 2
After stranding the bases loaded in the second and falling behind by two early, the Knights (26-25) finally broke through in the eighth to steal a 3-2 win.
Charlotte got right to work. Dustin Harris singled, and Mario Camilletti walked in the second before Dru Baker reached on a botched play by the second baseman to load the bases with two outs. It looked like the kind of inning that could crack the game open early. Instead, Rikuu Nishida swung through strike three, and the Knights came up empty.
Jonathan Cannon ran into trouble in the bottom half when a leadoff walk snowballed into the game’s first run. After a strikeout briefly steadied things, Cannon allowed an RBI single amidst another pair of walks, giving the Stripers a 1-0 lead. An inning later, Brewer Hicklen singled with two outs, swiped second, and came around on an RBI knock to make it 2-0.
This contest had all the makings of another wasted afternoon for Charlotte. To Cannon’s credit, though, the righthander stopped the bleeding there. After the shaky opening frames, he settled in nicely and finished with two runs allowed over 5 1/3 innings. Tyler Gilbert followed and spun two clean frames to keep the Knights within striking distance, and eventually, the offense rewarded them.
Korey Lee sparked the fourth with a one-out single, stole second, and scored when Camilletti punched an RBI hit to trim the deficit in half. Then, in the fifth, Nishida and Austin Hays opened the frame with back-to-back singles before LaMonte Wade Jr. lofted a sacrifice fly to tie things at two.
Charlotte had another opening in the seventh after Jacob Gonzalez wore a two-out hit-by-pitch and Wade drew a walk, but Junior Perez fanned, stranding both runners, continuing the Knights’ frustrating trend of almost-but-not-quite.
This time, though, the Knights had one more push left. In the eighth, Harris and Camilletti ripped consecutive singles to put two on with one out. Baker grounded out, but it moved the tying run 90 feet away, setting the table for Nishida, who delivered the go-ahead RBI single that finally put Charlotte in front for good. After spending most of the afternoon squandering opportunities, the Knights finally found the one hit that mattered.
Who is the Knights MVP?
Rikuu Nishida: 2-for-4, R, RBI, BB, KAustin Hays: 1-for-4Jacob Gonzalez: 2-for-4Korey Lee: 1-for-4, R, SBDustin Harris: 2-for-4, RMario Camilletti: 2-for-2, EJonathan Cannon: 5 IP, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 KTyler Gilbert: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, K, WChris Murphy: 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, K, S
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Who is the Knights Cold Cat? Junior Perez: 0-for-5, 2 KDru Baker: 0-for-4, KLaMonte Wade Jr.: 0-for-3, RBI, BB, 2 K
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Biloxi Shuckers 7, Birmingham Barons 5
Early on, this had all the markings of a classic Southern League pitchers’ duel. Birmingham (16-28) didn’t even record a hit until the fourth inning, when Alec Makarewicz finally cracked the seal with a one-out triple. Anthony DePino followed with an RBI double, and just like that, the Barons had a 1-0 lead.
Naturally, the Shuckers answered immediately with two runs in the bottom half because baseball enjoys balance.
The Barons pulled even in the fifth thanks to Calvin Harris, who launched a solo homer to knot things at 2-2. Then came what looked like the decisive rally an inning later.
DePino doubled again to start the trouble, Jacob Burke worked a walk, and after Jeral Perez struck out, Harris drew another free pass to load the bases. Adam Fogel patiently forced in a run with a walk of his own before Jordan Sprinkle lined an RBI single to push Birmingham ahead, 4-2.
Unfortunately, that lead lasted about as long as your average streaming service free trial. Jake Palisch cruised until that bump in the fourth, but the sixth inning is when things really unraveled when Biloxi got to him for a three-run homer. Instead of Birmingham padding a lead, the Barons suddenly trailed, 5-4. Jared Kelley came on in relief and immediately allowed another run, stretching the deficit to two.
Birmingham scratched one back in the eighth after Burke doubled, Perez walked, and Harris moved Burke to third with a flyout. Fogel then lifted a sacrifice fly to make it a one-run game and briefly restore hope.
Biloxi wasted no time stomping on that hope. A single, stolen base, walk, wild pitch, and sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth manufactured an insurance run the annoying way, putting the Shuckers back ahead by two.
That was effectively the ballgame, though the Barons did tease a little ninth-inning drama when Samuel Zavala opened the frame by wearing a pitch. The comeback threat ended immediately thereafter, as the next three Birmingham hitters struck out.
Who was the Barons MVP?
Alec Makarewicz: 1-for-4, R, BB, 3B, KAnthony DePino: 2-for-5, R, RBI, 2B, 3 KJacob Burke: 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 BB, 2B, KCalvin Harris: 1-for-3, R, RBI, HR, BBJordan Sprinkle: 2-for-4, RBI, SB, KJairo Iriarte: 1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K
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Who was the Barons Cold Cat? Jake Palisch: 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 1 KJarrod Kelley: 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BBJonathan Clark: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 KSamuel Zavala: 0-for-4, 2 KColby Shelton: 0-for-5, KJeral Perez: 0-for-3, BB, 3 KAdam Fogel: 0-for-2, BB
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Greensboro Grasshoppers 11, Winston-Salem Dash 4
The Dash (26-19) spent Sunday night learning the hard way that gifting the other guys 11 runs is not exactly an ideal baseball strategy. The Grasshoppers wasted no time teeing off on Justin Sinibaldi, who was dodging base traffic from the jump after allowing a tally on a single and double in the first. To his credit, the righthander minimized the damage to just that one run, which briefly kept things respectable.
Briefly.
Greensboro absolutely detonated the game in the third inning, hanging a five-spot on Sinibaldi and turning a manageable deficit into a full-blown avalanche at 6-0. By that point, the Dash were staring down another long night against one of the nastier offenses in the league.
To their credit, Winston-Salem didn’t just roll over. The Dash climbed back within two in a fifth inning that finally showed some signs of life. Kaleb Freeman sparked it with a solo shot, Arxy Hernández chipped in a single after Ely Brown’s line out, and Kyle Lodes plated Hernández with an RBI knock after Alex Ungar’s ground out.
Then Caleb Bonemer unloaded for his 15th bomb of the year, a two-run shot that sliced the gap to 6-4 and briefly made it look like the Dash might actually have a shot. That mirage evaporated in a hurry.
After the fifth, the Dash bats went back into hibernation, scraping together just four baserunners the rest of the way while Greensboro kept dumping fuel on the blaze. Seth Keener got torched for two runs in less than an inning, and Pierce George didn’t fare much better, surrendering up another pair during his inning-plus of work.
By the end, Greensboro had stacked up 12 hits and 11 runs, which — shocker — doesn’t usually end well for the other guys.
Who was the Dash MVP?
Kyle Lodise: 1-for-4, R, RBI, KCaleb Bonemer: 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI, KBoston Smith: 1-for-2, 2 BBKaleb Freeman: 2-for-4, R, RBI, 2B, HRArxy Hernández: 1-for-4, R, KMathias LaCombe: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K
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Who was the Dash Cold Cat?Ryan Burrowes: 0-for-3, BB, KGeorge Wolkow: 0-for-4, 2 KEly Brown: 0-for-3, BBAlex Ungar: 0-for-4, 2 K
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Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 5, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 0
Maybe Mike Vasil’s wand works from a distance because the Cannon Ballers (24-21) pulled off their own magic trick this afternoon. They won easily while whiffing 15 times and going 1-for-17 with RISP. Baseball can be a funny sport.
Fortunately for Kannapolis, James Taussig decided to personally drag the offense across the finish line while the pitching staff smothered Myrtle Beach in a 5-0 shutout.
The Ballers jumped ahead quickly in the first when Matthew Boughton cracked a one-out double, and after a flyout, Rylan Galvan followed with one of his own, putting Kannapolis up 1-0. An inning later, Taussig got things started, launching a solo homer to right for his sixth long ball of the season.
That was already more than enough for the arms, but the offense kept adding on. In the fourth, Taussig ripped a one-out double before Adrian Gil walked and Nathan Archer took a pitch to load the bases. Rather than cashing in with a hit, the Cannon Ballers manufactured a run the old-fashioned Low-A way: a wild pitch to score Taussig and make it 3-0.
Then came the haymaker.
After Taussig singled to lead off the sixth, Marcelo Ácala demolished a two-run homer to left, stretching the lead to five. Taussig wrapped up his afternoon 3-for-4 with a homer, double, single, and three runs scored, falling just a triple shy of the cycle while serving as the center of nearly every meaningful offensive moment.
The rest of the lineup mostly alternated between whiffs and leaving guys on base, but when your pitchers hang a zero, nobody cares about style.
Choyce Diffey handled opener duties before handing the ball off to Riley Eikhoff in the second inning. The righthander tossed seven scoreless innings, never allowing the Pelicans to generate anything that mattered. Marco Barrios slammed the door in the ninth to finish off the shutout.
Who was the Ballers MVP?
Abraham Núñez: 1-for-5, 2B, 2 KMatthew Boughton: 2-for-5, R, 2B, SB, 3 KRylan Galvan: 1-for-3, RBI, BB, 2B, SB, KJames Taussig: 3-for-4, 3 R, 1 RBI, 2B, HR, KMarcelo Ácala: 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI, HR, 2 KAdrian Gil: 1-for-3, BB, KNathan Archer: 1-for-3, 2 KChoyce Diffey: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 RRiley Eikhoff: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 8 K, W
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Who was the Ballers Cold Cat?Javier Mogollón: 0-for-4, BB, SB, KAlexander Albertus: 0-for-3, BB, K
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