SAL1 Asheville Tourists

Asheville Walks Off Victorious

Published on April 28, 2009 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Asheville Tourists News Release


(Asheville, NC) - The Tourists hosted the first place Charleston Riverdogs Tuesday night for the first of a four-game series at McCormick Field. Robinson Fabian started the game for Asheville and had his best outing of the year, allowing three runs on six hits and a walk through 6.2 innings of work. Fabian also struck out seven batters on the night while going deeper into the game than any Tourists starter this season. David Phelps opposed Fabian and pitched well, receiving little help from his defense as the Tourists would score three unearned runs off the right-hander. Asheville led for most of the contest before things got wild in the later stages.

Jimmy Cesario remained red hot when he smacked a solo homerun in his first at bat of the game. It was the first homerun of the year for the South Atlantic League's leading hitter. Cesario would pick up a base hit later in the contest, extending his hitting streak to six games, all of them multi-hit efforts.

The Tourists carried the 1-0 lead into the top of the fourth, when David Adams hit a two-out single and first baseman Brian Baisley crushed a two-run homerun over the wall in left field. Fabian would close out the inning without further incident with the Tourists trailing 2-1.

Asheville wasted little time in reclaiming the lead when Kiel Roling led off the bottom of the fourth by reaching on an error by shortstop Carmen Angelini. After a Cesario single and an Erik Wetzel sacrifice bunt, Tyler Massey drove in a run with a groundout and Ryan Peisel hit an RBI single to put the Tourists back in front, 3-2. Asheville would add another run in their next turn at bat on a sacrifice fly by Delta Cleary, making the score 4-2.

Robinson Fabian came out to work the top of the seventh inning an struck out the first two batters he faced. After getting ahead of Angelini with an 0-2 count, Angelini battled back to draw a walk. Fabian then threw a wild pitch, advancing the runner to second and Ray Kruml drove an RBI double into left-center field, drawing the Riverdogs to within 4-3. Kurt Yacko came on to relieve Fabian and struck out Adams to retire the side.

The Tourists picked up another run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Delta Cleary, his second run driven in on the night. Yacko worked 1.1 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out three batters. Asheville took a 5-3 lead into the ninth inning when Adam Jorgenson came on for the save opportunity. Catcher Mitch Abeita greeted Jorgenson with a solo homerun that was crushed over the wall in left, cutting the Asheville lead to 5-4. After retiring the next two batters, Jorgenson got Kruml to hit a routine ground ball to second base. Erik Wetzel fielded it cleanly but held onto it a beat too long, allowing the speedy Kruml to beat the throw to first. Jorgenson then walked David Adams and threw two wild pitches, advancing the runners to second and third. Brian Baisley brought them both around to score with a two-run double drilled down the left field line, putting the Riverdogs on top, 6-5.

Asheville headed to the bottom of the ninth down a run and facing Charleston closer Pat Venditte, a switch pitcher with stellar numbers thus far this season. Venditte began pitching lefty to Tyler Massey and got him to line out to center field. Verditte then switch sides and went after Ryan Peisel as a righty, inducing a ground ball out. Carlos Martinez smoked a line drive just off the glove of shortstop Angelini for a base hit. Scott Robinson pulled a single through the hole and into left field, putting runners on first and second for Cleary. With Cleary at the plate, Martinez and Robinson attempted a double steal. The catcher, Abeita made a wild throw to second base that went all the way into center field, allowing Martinez to score. Kruml picked up the ball in center and made an aggressive throw to third base in an attempt to cut down Robinson, but instead the throw sailed over Mike Lyon's head and into the stands, allowing Robinson to trot home and into his teammates' arms with the game-winning run.

The Tourists (8-11) will tangle with the Riverdogs (11-8) again Wednesday morning at 11:05 for Education Day at McCormick Field. Asheville will send RHP Parker Frazier (0-2, 6.06) to the mound in Wednesday morning's contest to oppose Charleston RHP Brett Marshall (0-2, 6.32). Tickets for Wednesday's game and all Tourists home games are available by contacting the Tourists box office at (828) 258-0428. You can also listen to all 140 Asheville Tourists games live on 100.7 WRES FM or streaming online at www.theashevilletourists.com.

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South Atlantic League Stories from April 28, 2009


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