Piper and Seymour Homer, Hot Rods Split Doubleheader
July 2, 2023 - South Atlantic League (SAL)
Bowling Green Hot Rods News Release
Rome, Georgia - The Bowling Green Hot Rods (5-3, 36-33) split a doubleheader with the Rome Braves (3-5, 33-41), taking game one, 5-4, and dropping game two, 9-6, on Sunday at AdventHealth Stadium.
The Hot Rods opened the scoring in the top of the first inning against Braves starter Ian Mejia. With one out, Carson Williams singled and advanced to second on an errant pickoff attempt. Bob Seymour walked, and in the next at-bat, Dominic Keegan drove in Williams with a double to center. Nick Schnell plated Seymour with a sacrifice fly to right, giving Bowling Green a 2-0 lead.
Rome evened the score in the bottom of the first against Bowling Green starter Ben Peoples. Kevin Kilpatrick worked a leadoff walk and Drake Baldwin slammed a two-run homer to left, tying the game 2-2.
Another run came around to score for the Hot Rods in the top of the third. Seymour collected a leadoff double to put himself in scoring position. Kamren James blooped a base hit to right, scoring Seymour from second, regaining a 3-2 lead for Bowling Green. Rome quickly tied the game again, scoring a run on a double play, evening the score 3-3.
The bats erupted for the Hot Rods in the top of the fourth inning, plating two more runs against Mejia. Blake Robertson started the inning with a walk and Williams put runners on first and second with a single. Seymour advanced Robertson to third with a fly ball to center. Keegan and Nick Schnell both collected RBI hits, plating Robertson and Seymour, vaulting Bowling Green to a 5-3 advantage.
Bowling Green reliever Kyle Whitten allowed a run in the bottom of the seventh but hung on to carry the Hot Rods to a 5-4 win.
Tony Locey (1-0) collected the win, letting up a hit, a walk, and striking out three over 2.0 scoreless innings. Mejia (3-6) took the loss, going 4.0 frames while allowing five runs on 10 hits, two walks, and six strikeouts. Whitten (5) notched the save, letting up a run on two hits, a walk, and a strikeout in the ninth.
In game two, Bowling Green began the scoring in the top of the second against Rome starter Tyler Owens. Willy Vasquez singled and came around to score on an RBI triple from Kenny Piper, putting the Hot Rods up 1-0. Schnell grounded out to first, allowing Piper to come home and increase the lead to 2-0.
After the Braves scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the second, they exploded for six runs in the bottom of the third off Bowling Green starter Sandy Gaston. With the bases loaded, David McCabe drove in the tying run on a sacrifice fly to left. Ethan Workinger collected the lead for Rome on a two RBI single, and Brandon Parker smacked a three-run homer to make it a 7-2 ballgame.
The Hot Rods answered back in the bottom of the fourth off Braves reliever J.J. Niekro. Piper launched a solo blast over the left center field wall to cut the deficit to 7-3.
In the top of the fifth, Brock Jones walked and Williams singled to put runners on first and second. Seymour homered over the left center field wall to move the score to 7-6.
Rome scored two more runs in the bottom of the fifth against Bowling Green reliever Duncan Davitt. Bryson Horne drove in a run on a sacrifice fly, and Keyshawn Ogans knocked an RBI single to make it a 9-6 ballgame. The Hot Rods were shut out the rest of the way to drop game two by a score of 9-6.
Niekro (2-3) earned the win, letting up four runs on three hits, a walk, and two strikeouts over 2.0 frames. Gaston (1-4) took the loss, tossing 2.0 innings while allowing four runs on four hits, two walks and two strikeouts. Peyton Williams (5) struck out five and allowed two hits over 2.0 scoreless frames to lockdown the save.
Bowling Green and Rome play the finale of a six-game series on Monday with first pitch set for 5:05 PM CT. The Hot Rods are set to start RHP Roel Garcia (4-4, 3.91), while the Braves are starting RHP Roddery Munoz (0-0, 0.00)
Fans can catch all the action by watching on MiLB.tv or listening through the MiLB First Pitch App, tuning into Talk 104.1 FM and 930 AM WKCT, or visiting https://www.milb.com/bowling-green/fans/audio-listen-live.
South Atlantic League Stories from July 2, 2023
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