Big Eighth Inning Fuels Hub City on July Fourth
July 4, 2025 - South Atlantic League (SAL)
Hub City Spartanburgers News Release
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Through five innings on the Fourth of July, Jake Bockenstedt had a perfect game going against the Spartanburgers. The fireworks came late as Hub City (7-6, 38-40) woke up offensively to beat Winston-Salem (4-9, 29-49), 10-5.
Hub City put together a season-best eight-run eighth inning; half of the runs came on a grand slam from Gleider Figuereo. With eight hits in the inning, the Spartanburgers offense compiled double digit hits for the second straight night.
Dalton Pence got the game started for the Spartanburgers on the mound. The lefty tossed three scoreless innings, stranding six total batters on base. D.J. McCarty picked up right where Pence left off in the fourth inning. The righty reliever stranded the bases loaded for the second straight frame.
At the same time, Bockenstedt was cruising through the Hub City batters. In the first five innings, Bockenstedt only needed 56 pitches to retire each of the first fifteen batters he faced.
Winston-Salem got to McCarty in the fifth. Three straight singles led to the first run of the ballgame. A pair of groundouts brought two more runs home for the Dash.
An out into the bottom of the sixth, John Taylor ended the perfect game with a single. Quincy Scott reached on an error, and with two outs, Malcolm Moore and Figuereo picked up RBI singles to cut the lead to one.
The Spartanburgers picked up a key relief appearance from Seth Clark (W, 1-4) to help keep the Dash lead in check. The southpaw entered with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth after Anthony Susac walked four straight Winston-Salem batters. Clark induced a run-scoring double play and struck out Alec Makarewicz to leave two aboard. The Dash led 5-2, but the 'Burgers escaped a knockout blow.
Taylor and Scott led off the bottom of the eighth with singles against Morris Austin (L, 3-1). Casey Cook drove in Taylor with his first hit of the night. Austin hit Moore to load the bases and was taken out of the game for Phil Fox. Figuereo took Fox deep for his second grand slam of the season to give the Spartanburgers their first lead of the day. Four more hits and a pitching change later, Hub City took a 10-5 lead to the ninth.
Hub City can secure its first series win of the second half Saturday night. More fireworks follow a 6:35 p.m. ET first pitch. Rangers' No. 29 prospect Mason Molina (0-1, 2.00 ERA) duels with Winston-Salem righty Dylan Cumming (1-2, 4.70 ERA) as the starting pitchers.
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