Dogs Bite Back, Avoid Sweep
Published on May 1, 2009 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Asheville Tourists News Release
(Asheville, NC) - The Tourists hosted the Riverdogs for the final game of a four-game series Friday night from McCormick Field, coming up short of a sweep, dropping the final game by the score of 6-3. Dan Houston started the game for Asheville and had his best and longest outing of the year, working 5.1 innings and allowing three runs on three hits. Houston made one costly mistake that ended his night and got the Riverdogs offense going, before Pat Venditte and the Charleston bullpen sealed the deal.
D.J. Mitchell was the starting pitcher for Charleston Friday night, and he pitched very well, despite several defensive miscues behind him. Mitchell did allow a rare walk with one out in the top of the first inning, and a quick error was all the Tourists needed to take the lead. Following the Erik Wetzel walk, Jordan Pacheco singled into right field and Riverdogs right fielder Melky Mesa could not come up with the ball cleanly as it rolled all the way to the wall. Wetzel would score from first on the fielding error and Pacheco would advance to third base, but Mitchell would strand him there.
The Tourists scraped across another run off of Mitchell in the bottom of the third inning. With Mitchell finding his stride and striking out five of seven Tourists, Erik Wetzel threw him a curve by bunting with two outs and the bases empty. Wetzel's bunt was down the third base line and positioned perfectly. Mitchell fielded it in front of the mound, but his rushed throw to first got past Brian Baisley and into right field, advancing Wetzel to second base. Jordan Pacheco bounced a chopper toward third base which would have been a routine play for Garrison Lassiter, but his throw was low to first and Baisley couldn't dig it out, putting runners on the corners with two away. Mitchell then threw a wild pitch, allowing Wetzel to score his second run of the game, putting Asheville ahead 2-0.
Asheville posted another run in the bottom half of the fifth when Patrick rose led off with a walk. With one out, Scott Robinson pulled a single through the hole at shortstop, scoring Rose to make it 3-0 Tourists. Dan Houston was excellent on the mound through five, recording five strikeouts and working his way out of a couple jams. Having been limited to four innings in each of his prior starts this season, Houston began to tire in the top of the sixth.
After a groundout to lead off the inning, David Adams hit a hard single into right field to set the plate for Baisley. A big, powerful first baseman, Baisley had already homered once in this series, and Houston left a pitch up in the zone that ended up sailing over the wall in right-center field for a two-run homerun. After walking the next batter, Houston was relieved by right-hander Tyler Trice from the bullpen. Abraham Almonte started Trice off by crushing a pitch to deep center field. Scott Robinson made a fantastic leaping catch just in front of the wall for a loud second out. But Trice would struggle through the rest of the inning, allowing three consecutive singles before striking out Ray Kruml to retire the side. Charleston finished the inning having scored four runs and taken a 4-3 lead.
Isaiah Froneberger came on from the bullpen to relieve Trice and pitched effectively, striking out six batters in 3.0 innings of work. He did get into trouble in the top of the eighth, after having struck out the side in the seventh. Froneberger issued a leadoff walk to Taylor Grote before striking out Almonte. Melky Mesa then stepped in and lashed another homerun over the wall in right field, giving Charleston a 6-3 lead.
That was all Riverdogs closer Pat Venditte would need. Venditte, a switch pitcher and the Charleston closer, came on with runners on second and third and two away in the bottom of the eighth. He pitched left-handed to Tyler Massey and struck him out on three straight pitches to end the inning .Venditte came out and worked strictly from the right-handed side of the rubber in the bottom of the ninth, retiring the side in order and striking out one more hitter to earn his sixth save of the year.
The Tourists (10-12) are heading on the road to Savannah (13-9) for a four-game series beginning Saturday, May 2nd at 7:00 pm. The Tourists will send RHP Ethan Hollingsworth (0-1, 4.40) to the mound to face off against Sand Gnats RHP Jeurys Familia (2-1, 1.37). You can listen to all 140 Asheville Tourists games live on 100.7 WRES FM or streaming online at www.theashevilletourists.com.
South Atlantic League Stories from May 1, 2009
- Suns overpower West Virginia - Hagerstown Suns
- Sand Gnats Edge Drive, 2-1, in Series Finale - Greenville Drive
- Dogs Bite Back, Avoid Sweep - Asheville Tourists
- Power comeback falls short - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Dogs Bite Back, Avoid Sweep - Asheville Tourists
- RiverDogs Hammer Tourists, 6-3 - Charleston RiverDogs
- Crawdads crack BlueClaws with 6-3 win - Hickory Crawdads
- Sand Gnats Win In Ninth, 2-1 - Savannah Sand Gnats
- Intimidators give up 18 hits in 8-4 loss to Lake County - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- Legends sweep Braves with 4-1 victory - Lexington Legends
- Home Runs, Pitching Help Crawdads Past BlueClaws - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Roster Move - Charleston Dirty Birds
- BlueClaws Begin Eight-Game Homestand on Tuesday - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Captains Return Home on May 5 for Eight Game Homestand Featuring Food Specials and Mother's Day - Lake County Captains
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