Hoekstra's Triple Lifts Rome Over Lakewood, 5-2

May 1, 2018 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Rome Emperors News Release

Rome, GA - The Rome Braves opened their seven game homestand Tuesday night with a 5-2 victory over the Lakewood BlueClaws before 1,620 fans at State Mutual Stadium.

The Braves got on the scoreboard in the third inning on a double steal and a throwing error for the first run and an RBI single by Jefry Ramos for the 2-0 lead. Lakewood knotted the contest 2-2 in the seventh. The BlueClaws loaded the bases when Dalton Guthrie hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Jean Carlos Encarnacion which went under his glove allowing two runs to cross the plate. The Braves regained the lead in the bottom of the inning on Ramos' sacrifice fly RBI and a two run triple by Kurt Hoekstra for the 5-2 final.

Jake Belinda (1-0) gets his first win of the season while Jonathan Hennigan (0-1) is tagged with the loss for Lakewood. Kelvin Rodriguez earns his second save of the year for the Braves. Rome starter Bruce Zimmermann pitched 6.2 innings allowed two runs and struck out eleven.

The Braves and BlueClaws play again tomorrow evening at seven. For information contact the Rome Braves at 706-378-5144 or log onto www.romebraves.com.

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