Gastonia Falls to Lexington in Thursday's Rubber Match, 6-5

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AtL Gastonia Ghost Peppers

Gastonia Falls to Lexington in Thursday's Rubber Match, 6-5

June 5, 2025 - Atlantic League (AtL)
Gastonia Ghost Peppers News Release


GASTONIA, N.C. - The Ghost Peppers' ninth-inning rally fell short on Thursday, leaving the bases loaded and dropping the rubber match to the Legends, 6-5.

Gastonia scored two runs in the ninth and managed to load the bases by drawing five walks off the Lexington bullpen in the frame. But after battling to bring the tying run 90 feet away, Narciso Crook struck out on a Jimmy Loper slider in the dirt to end the contest - a contest that featured another dominant start for Lexington.

Colton Eastman became the second Legends starter this week to work a quality start against the Gastonia offense, following Nic Laio on Tuesday. When you factor in Patrick Wicklander's five innings of one-run ball on Wednesday, all three starting pitchers were fabulous in the series.

Eastman went six innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits.

One of the earned runs was a solo shot off the bat of Brian O'Grady - his first homer as a Ghost Pepper. The lefty crushed a ball 403 feet to right field in the sixth inning, which cut the Gastonia deficit to 6-3.

Curtis Terry's eighth homer of the season and second of the series capped off a five-run effort for the Lexington offense against southpaw Nick Wells, although only three of the runs were earned. Wells gave up seven hits through five frames, and exited while Gastonia trailed 5-2.

After Brian Fuentes hit an RBI single in the sixth off Rodney Hutchison and O'Grady hit the deep homer, the Peppers were chasing three into the seventh.

The backend of the Gastonia bullpen kept the team in the game, with Nick Horvath throwing two perfect innings and Nick Snyder dealing a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.

Durbin Feltman came on for the ninth, and threw eight straight out of the zone to issue walks to Ethan Skender and Kevin Watson Jr. Feltman then retired two in a row before dealing a free pass to Cole Roederer to load the bases in the 6-3 game.

Loper then came on and issued back-to-back walks to Justin Wylie and O'Grady before facing Crook. He got ahead 1-2 and got Crook to chase a breaking ball to end things, with Roederer stranded as the tying run on third base and Wylie as the winning run on second.

Gastonia fell 6-5, dropping to 13-23 on the season and 6-15 at home. The Ghost Peppers will now host Charleston in a 2024 South Division Championship Series rematch, with first pitch on Friday at 7 p.m.

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