SAL Bowling Green Hot Rods

Bowling Green Wins Sixth-Straight Behind Hulsizer, Bullpen on Tuesday

Published on June 16, 2021 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Bowling Green Hot Rods News Release


Rome, Georgia - Niko Hulsizer's two hits and four RBIs helped the Bowling Green Hot Rods (25-12) to a 7-3 victory in the series opening game against the Rome Braves (19-18) on Tuesday night at State Mutual Stadium in Rome, Georgia. The series continues on Wednesday afternoon with a 12:00 PM CT first pitch.

The Hot Rods touched up Rome starter and MLB rehabber Touki Toussaint in the top of the second inning. Evan Edwards led off with a solo homer to right-center field, giving Bowling Green a 1-0 lead. The homer was Edwards' fourth of the season and left the deepest part of the park.

Rome tied the game in the bottom of the first and Toussaint lasted three innings before he was replaced in the fourth by Braves reliever Freddy Tarnok, where Hot Rods hitters took the lead. Greg Jones led off with a double and, with one out, Edwards advanced Jones to third on a line-out and scored when Niko Hulsizer singled to right, giving the Hot Rods a 2-1 lead. Connor Hollis singled up the middle later in the inning, plating Hulsizer to extend Bowling Green's lead to 3-1.

Jesse Franklin V brought Rome within a run in the fourth, hitting a solo homer off Trageton, but the Hot Rods extended their lead in the fifth with Tarnok still on the mound. Erik Ostberg walked, Pedro Martinez singled, and with one out, Blake Hunt singled to load the bases. Edwards walked to force home the fourth run of the game and Hulsizer cleared the bases in the next at-bat with a double to extend the Hot Rods lead to 7-2. Cody Milligan singled home Beau Philip in the fifth, cutting the Bowling Green lead to four runs, but the Hot Rods bullpen shut down the Braves, tossing four shutout innings in the 7-3 win.

Trageton (3-1) earned his third win of the season, tossing 5.0 innings while allowing three runs on six hits with two strikeouts. Colby White threw 1.0 perfect inning with a strikeout. Trevor Brigden allowed one hit while pitching the seventh with a strikeout. Ezequiel Zabaleta had a strikeout over his 1.0 hitless and scoreless frame. Alan Strong pitched the ninth, holding Rome to one hit with a strikeout.

Notes: Edwards is the first Hot Rods hitter to homer off a rehabbing MLB pitcher since Seaver Whalen did it in 2019 against Derek Holland of the South Bend Cubs... The six-game win streak is a season-long... Trageton's five innings of work tie his season-high... It's also ties the team-high for innings pitched by a starter this season... Hulsizer has nine RBIs in two games... He also had his seventh multi-hit game of the season... Niko is batting .421 in the month of June... All three of Trageton's wins in 2021 have been against the Rome Braves... BG is 14-6 in games decided by four or more runs... The Hot Rods are 4-3 in games to open a series this season... They're 9-4 against the Braves in 2021... The team has won their last six contests with Rome... BG is 17-8 all-time against Rome... They're now 10-4 on the road against the Braves all-time... The Hot Rods are 15-7 when they score first... BG is 11-2 in June... The Hot Rods and Braves will play the second game of the six-game series on Wednesday with a 12:00 PM CT first pitch... Bowling Green will send LH Jacob Lopez (2-0, 2.96) to the mound against Rome LH Jared Shuster (1-0, 4.09)... Fans can catch all of the action by watching on MiLB.tv or listening through the MiLB First Pitch app, tuning into WBGN 94.5 FM and 1340 AM, or visiting https://www.milb.com/bowling-green/fans/audio-listen-live.

Check out the Bowling Green Hot Rods Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



South Atlantic League Stories from June 16, 2021


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central