Owls Fall to Martinsville, 8-4, in Home Opener
June 1, 2011 - Coastal Plain League (Coastal Plain)
Forest City Owls News Release
FOREST CITY, N.C. - The Forest City Owls dropped their 2011 home opener to the Martinsville Mustangs, 8-4, Wednesday night before a crowd of 2,073 at McNair Field. The Mustangs improve to 2-0, while the Owls fall to 1-1.
The Mustangs tagged the Owls bullpen for six runs in the final two innings, spoiling a solid start from Owls pitcher Andrew Brown. Brown, a senior righty from Akron, tossed six strong innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, striking out three Martinsville batters. However, the relief combination of Michael Green and Greg Harrison surrendered six runs in three innings. Mustangs starter Tyler Carman earned the win. Green took home his first loss of the season.
Martinsville got the scoring started in the top of the second inning, when Ian Harvey's groundout to third scored Derek Hopkins, giving the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. The Owls responded in the bottom of the third. Third baseman Jordan Betts' single brought home Nick Thimesch, knotting the game up at 1-1.
Forest City took the lead in the bottom of the fifth, when Konstantine Diamaduros' seeing-eye single plated Hector Crespo, putting the Owls ahead 2-1. The Owls' lead evaporated quickly in the top of the sixth, when John Faircloth's single brought Nick Ferdinand home and tied the game at 2-2.
Although the Owls would retake the lead in the bottom of the seventh, when Jordan Betts' groundout scored Nick Thimesch and gave Forest City a 3-2 advantage, the final third of the ballgame belonged to the Mustangs. Martinsville's batters attacked the Forest City bullpen, racking up six runs between the eighth and ninth innings.
Green, a freshman from Brunswick Community College, pitched a scoreless seventh but allowed four runs in the eighth inning, two of which came on a Mike Anderson double to the right-center gap that scored A.J. Nunziato and Adam Pendleton.
Harrison, a freshman from Spartanburg Methodist College, allowed a pair runs in the top of the ninth inning. Harvey hit a sacrifice fly that scored Justin Sizemore. Pendleton followed that up with an RBI single that plated Faircloth. In total, the Mustangs scored six runs on seven hits over the last two innings of the contest.
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