SAL1 Asheville Tourists

Poor start dooms Tourists

Published on August 13, 2008 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Asheville Tourists News Release


ASHEVILLE - Shane Lindsay and the Asheville Tourists could not overcome a three-run first inning, falling for the second night in a row to the Kannapolis Intimidators by a 4-3 score.

Lindsay issued a leadoff walk to Eduardo Escobar, which was followed by a Brent Morel single and a Jorge Castillo run-scoring double. Mark Fleisher's single plated two more to make the score 3-0 Kannapolis, all before Lindsay had recorded an out in the ballgame. From there, Lindsay (0-1) would settle down in his longest outing as a Tourist, tossing five quality innings and allowing just the three first inning tallies on five hits with a pair of walks and five strikeouts. Asheville would try to get Lindsay back into the game with a run in the fourth on Brian Rike's RBI single. A 2-4 effort at the plate marks the second straight multi-hit night for Rike, coming off a 3-4 performance on Tuesday.

Asheville pulled to within a run in the sixth on a Lars Davis blast to right - just over the 36-foot high fence and just inside the right-field foul pole - to make it a 3-2 game. For the second night in a row, the seventh would provide trouble for the Tourists. Back-to-back singles put runners at the corners with no outs for Eduardo Escobar, who grounded to Warren Schaeffer at second. Schaeffer was not able to come up with the ball allowing an insurance run to score from third and the Kannapolis lead to grow to 4-2.

Joey Williamson worked his way out of the seventh inning jam to keep Asheville in the ballgame, part of a three-inning effort in which the All-Star reliever struck out four and yielded just one hit. The Tourists tried to mount a rally in the ninth on consecutive singles by Rike and Darin Holcomb. With runners at the corners, Michael Mitchell grounded into a fielder's choice to bring Asheville to within one. Mitchell advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Johnnie Lowe (5-6) - in his longest outing of the season - threw 8.1 innings without a walk, allowing three runs while scattering nine hits and striking out eight. He was replaced by Tyson Corley, who got Cunningham to ground out to second, moving Mitchell to third. Kannapolis went to the bullpen once more to bring on Eric Stephenson, who struck out Bo Bowman to end the game and earn his first save of the year.

The Tourists will send Bruce Billings (8-9, 4.07) to the mound in search of the series split. He'll face Levi Maxwell (12-4, 3.00) on the season's penultimate Thirsty Thursday, presented by Wild Wing Café, Star 104.3 and Rock 104.9. Fans can enjoy dollar soft drinks and domestic drafts all night long. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. and the game can be heard on the Tourists flagship station WRES-FM, 100.7.

Check out the Asheville Tourists Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



South Atlantic League Stories from August 13, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central