Tourists Pound BlueClaws, Avoid Sweep
Published on July 25, 2009 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Asheville Tourists News Release
(Asheville, NC) - Having lost the first three games of their series with Lakewood, the Tourists thrashed the BlueClaws in Saturday's finale, racking up 15 hits in a 9-3 victory. Juan Nicasio was excellent again for Asheville, and would have had one of the best starts of his season if not for a rocky final inning. Scott Robinson, Tyler Massey, and Beau Seabury had three hits apiece for the Tourists as Asheville avoided matching their longest losing skid of the season.
The Tourists got out to an early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Scott Robinson led the game off with a base hit and stole second base in front of a walk by Delta Cleary. Kiel Roling grounded out to move the runners to second and third with one out. Jimmy Cesario lined a fly ball to right field, deep enough to plate Robinson for the sacrifice fly and give Asheville a 1-0 lead. Mike Zuanich then lifted a fly ball to right-center field that fell between center fielder Anthony Gose and right fielder D'Arby Myers. It was a ball that should have been caught, but instead went for an RBI double to give the Tourists a 2-0 lead.
Juan Nicasio was perfect through three innings, collecting three strikeouts, and his offense spotted him some more runs in the bottom of the third. Robinson and Cleary led off with back-to-back hits again, and Cleary stole second base with Kiel Roling at the plate. After a strikeout, Cesario hit a ground ball down the first base line that got past James Murphy and brought in two runs to make it 4-0 Tourists. The play went as an error to Murphy, but Cesario picked up his second RBI of the contest without a hit. Zuanich drew a walk to put runners on first and second, and with two away, a wild pitch advanced them to second and third. Tyler Massey chopped one to third base that fell for an infield single, plating Cesario to take a 5-0 lead, and Beau Seabury picked up a base hit that brought Zuanich in to make it 6-0.
Lakewood got on the board with an unearned run in the top of the fourth, after a hit batsmen came around to score on two wild pitches and a groundout, making it 6-1 Asheville.
Nicasio got into trouble in the top of the seventh, allowing a leadoff walk and then a double. After a strikeout, Nicasio got D'Arby Myers to ground out to second, scoring the runner from third to pull Lakewood to within 6-2. Kyle Lafrenz then followed with a two-out, two-strike single into center field, scoring another run to make it 6-3. After Nicasio gave up a single to the next batter, Korby Mintken, Joe Mikulik pulled him from the ball game. Nicasio finished with 6.2 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts. He was relieved by Kurt Yacko, who struck out the only batter he faced to end the inning.
The Tourists tacked on three more runs down the stretch in support of Nicasio to give him his fifth win of the season. Michael Marbry was sharp out of the bullpen, throwing 2.0 scoreless innings to close out the victory.
The Tourists (17-11) will face the Delmarva Shorebirds (15-12) for a four-game series beginning Sunday afternoon at 2:05. Asheville will send RHP Dan Houston (5-7, 3.87) to the mound to go up against Delmarva RHP Ryan O'Shea (6-5, 3.48). Tickets for Sunday's game and all Tourists home games are available by contacting the Tourists box office at (828) 258-0428. You can also listen to all 140 Asheville Tourists games live on 100.7 WRES FM or streaming online at www.theashevilletourists.com.
South Atlantic League Stories from July 25, 2009
- Crawdads walk off to 10-9 win against Braves - Hickory Crawdads
- RiverDogs Chomp Grasshoppers in 12, 10-7 - Charleston RiverDogs
- 6-2 victory gives Suns first series win of the second half - Hagerstown Suns
- Third homer against Suns not enough in 6-2 loss - Bowling Green Hot Rods
- Kannapolis crushed, 11-4, by âJackets - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- Latimore's double completes Power comeback - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Drive Hang On for 7-5 Win in Finale Versus Shorebirds - Greenville Drive
- Tourists Avoid Sweep, Salvage Game - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Four-run fourth sends Captains to victory over Legends - Lexington Legends
- Tourists Pound BlueClaws, Avoid Sweep - Asheville Tourists
- Jackets Snap Brooms in 11-4 Win - Augusta GreenJackets
- Hoppers drop close one to RiverDogs, 5-4 - Greensboro Grasshoppers
- Freddy Garcia to pitch in Kannapolis on Sunday - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
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.
