SAL1 Greensboro Grasshoppers

Legends Hand Hoppers Another Daytime Loss, 5-4

Published on June 13, 2007 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greensboro Grasshoppers News Release


GREENSBORO, N.C. - Day games continue to be unkind to the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

The Lexington Legends rallied to tie the game in the ninth inning and then punched a run across in the 11th to beat the Hoppers 5-4 Wednesday afternoon at First Horizon Park.

The Hoppers are now 1-5 in home day games, compared to 22-5 in home games at night.

This was one that got away. Greensboro built a 4-1 lead through eight innings, with Corey Madden and Jay Buente doing some excellent work out of the bullpen in support of starter Tom Cowley.

In the ninth, the Hoppers brought in Blake Jones, who hadn't pitched since going on the disabled list on May 16 with a hamstring injury. Jones came in with 11 saves, third-best in the South Atlantic League.

It looked like an ideal situation, with an opportunity for a three-run save, but the layoff showed. Jones gave up a double to Chris Johnson and a two-out, two-run homer to Tim Torres that made the score 4-3.

Eric Taylor followed with a single, Koby Klemens was hit by a pitch and Jimmy Van Ostrand singled to right field to score Taylor and tie things.

"He was rusty," Hoppers manager Edwin Rodriguez said of Jones. "His velocity wasn't there after the second hitter and his location wasn't there. Still, it was good to see him out there. If we want to win, we need him."

The Hoppers threatened against Legends reliever Victor Garate in the bottom of the ninth. Chris Coghlan doubled with one out and Spike McDougall was given an intentional walk. Coghlan stole third base and the throw by catcher Jim Goethals went into left field. Coghlan tried to score, but Torres picked up the ball and fired home to get Coghlan on a close play.

Lexington won it in the 11th. Torres singled and Taylor laid down a sacrifice bunt. Pitcher Don Czyz fielded it and threw the ball into right field, with Torres coming around to score the go-ahead run.

Greensboro threatened one more time in the 11th on infield hits by Cousins and Howard. With two outs, they moved up on a double steal. But reliever Kyle DeYoung slipped a called third strike by Chris Hatcher to end the game.

The loss ended the Hoppers' five-game winning streak.

Greensboro banged out 14 hits but stranded 14 runners. Scott Cousins had three hits and John Raynor, Coghlan, Daniel Garcia and Justin Webb had two each. Torres had three hits to lead the Legends.

The Hoppers close out the home portion of the first half of the season with two games against Kannapolis. The first one is Thursday at 7 p.m. at First Horizon.

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South Atlantic League Stories from June 13, 2007


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