IL1 Charlotte Knights

Knights Hold on for 6-5 Win on Friday

Published on April 6, 2012 under International League (IL1)
Charlotte Knights News Release


(Fort Mill, SC) - The fans had to wait an extra day for baseball, but in the end, they saw their club pick up a win.

Josh Phegley ripped three hits, starter Charlie Shirek (1-0, 7.20) went five innings and the Charlotte Knights survived a 9th-inning scare Friday night to come away with a 6-5 Opening Day win over the visiting Norfolk Tides at Knights Stadium.

With the Knights ahead by a score of 6-4 in the ninth, reliever Anthony Carter got into a first-and-second, one-out situation but appeared to get out of it when he forced Norfolk's Zelous Wheeler to ground to first. However, Wheeler's hot smash to Knights first baseman Dan Johnson trickled off Johnson and into right field scoring Joe Mahoney to make it a 6-5 game at that point.

With Norfolk's right fielder Jai Miller on third base and the Tides still threatening, Carter took over on the hill. The Georgia native then induced John Hester into a pop-out to short and got Xavier Avery to ground to Tyler Kuhn at second base to put an end to the game and give the Knights their first win of the young season. Carter earned the save.

Although the Knights had to wait an extra day to begin the 2012 season due to Thursday's postponement, the club was more than ready to break out the big bats early on in the contest.

Second baseman Tyler Kuhn led off the bottom of the first with a single to center field. After Greg Golson bunted him over to second, Dallas McPherson singled to center to score Kuhn on a bang-bang play at the plate. Conor Jackson doubled to put runners on second and third and Hector Gimenez singled them home for the 3-0 lead.

The Knights continued their attack in the second as Phegley led off with a double. A Kuhn RBI-single down the right-field line plated Phegley for a 4-0 lead. Dallas McPherson followed with his second RBI-base hit to push the Knights' advantage to 5-0 after two.

Shirek, 26, struck out two of the first three batters he faced on the evening and was on a roll. He then went on to strike out two of three batters in the third inning to take a perfect game into the fourth. After retiring the leadoff hitter in the fourth inning, however, Shirek watched his perfect game fly over the left-field wall off the bat of Spartanburg, S.C.-native Steve Tolleson. A three-run home run by Joe Mahoney over the right-field wall one out later cut the Charlotte edge to 5-4. In all, Shirek fanned eight batters in his Triple-A debut and allowed four runs on four hits over five innings to earn the win.

Charlotte scored one more run along the way, thanks to Dan Johnson's double in the fifth, which scored Conor Jackson from first base to push the Knights' lead to 6-4. His RBI proved to be the game-winner.

The Knights return to the diamond on Saturday for a doubleheader with first pitch set for 5:15 p.m. Only one ticket is needed for admission to Saturday's doubleheader and gates are set to open at 4:30 p.m. The teams will play two seven-inning games.

Taking the hill for the Knights in game one will be RHP Dylan Axelrod (NR). The Tides will counter with RHP Chris Tillman (NR). Saturday's game features post-game fireworks, courtesy of 1110 WBT, Time Warner Cable, and Carolina Weekly Newspaper.

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International League Stories from April 6, 2012


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