Small Ball Powers Spartanburgers to Series Opening Win at Wilmington

Sports stats



SAL Hub City Spartanburgers

Small Ball Powers Spartanburgers to Series Opening Win at Wilmington

April 8, 2025 - South Atlantic League (SAL)
Hub City Spartanburgers News Release


WILMINGTON, De. - The Hub City Spartanburgers (3-1) again relied on putting the ball in play and putting pressure on the defense in a 6-1 win on Tuesday night, kicking off a six-game series against the Wilmington Blue Rocks (0-4) at Frawley Stadium. The Spartanburgers tallied a pair of doubles from Danyer Cueva and Arturo Disla along with eight singles; assists also came from two sacrifice flies and two Blue Rocks errors.

The Hub City pitching performance was just as good if not better than the offense on Tuesday. Leandro Lopez got the ball to start things off. In his first outing of the season, the only run the righty allowed came on a balk. Josh Mollerus (W, 1-0), Joey Danielson, and Seth Clark combined for the final five and two-thirds innings of scoreless baseball after Lopez was lifted from the game.

Just like in Sunday's win over Aberdeen, Hub City put a run on the scoreboard before the hosts could even step to the plate. Dylan Dreiling and Anthony Gutierrez provided the first two hits of the ball game. Casey Cook tallied the first RBI on a one-out groundout to score Dreiling.

Walks cost Lopez and Hub City the lead. After a scoreless first frame for the starter from the Dominican Republic, Lopez walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the second. With two outs, the balk forced home the only run of the night for Wilmington. Lopez proceeded to strike out Blue Rocks right fielder Brenner Cox immediately after.

After the second inning, the starters for both sides kept the game moving. Lopez lasted into the fourth inning without giving up another run. Meanwhile, Wilmington starter Travis Sthele managed to just give up the one run on five hits to the Spartanburgers across his five innings of work.

Hub City immediately pounced on the first arm out of the bullpen for Wilmington. Chance Huff (L, 0-1) gave up three hits to Disla, Gleider Figuereo, and Quincy Scott in the bottom of the Spartanburgers lineup, leading to a two-run sixth inning to give Hub City a 3-1 advantage.

The Spartanburgers went right back to work in the top of the seventh on the second bullpen arm of the day, Yeuris Jimenez. Hub City loaded the bases on Jimenez in three batters with singles from Malcolm Moore and Cook sandwiched around a walk to Gutierrez. All three would score thanks to a wild pitch, a throwing error, and a sacrifice fly from Figuereo.

Clark was tasked with getting the final six outs in a five-run game. After working around traffic in the eighth, the Georgia State product slammed the door with a clean bottom of the ninth. Hub City pitching limited Wilmington to just four hits, and the Spartanburgers played a clean game defensively for the first time this season.

Hub City searches for a third straight win while Wilmington seeks its first this year on Wednesday night. The Blue Rocks and Spartanburgers clash for game two of six this week at 6:35 p.m. A pair of 2023 MLB Draft selections are expected to start tomorrow. Righty Mikey Tepper for Wilmington and lefty Josh Trentadue for Hub City are both scheduled for their first regular season action in 2025.

Check out the Hub City Spartanburgers Statistics

• Discuss this story on the South Atlantic League message board...

South Atlantic League Stories from April 8, 2025


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