Stanton, Hoppers Blast Past Lexington

Hoppers Take Four-of-Five From Legends to Open Second Half

Lexington, Ky. – For the fourth time in Greensboro’s last five games Mike Stanton hit a home run as the Hoppers took the series finale, 7-3, against Lexington.

On Thursday, Stanton hit a sixth inning home run as Greensboro topped the Legends to open the second half with a win; he added to Greensboro’s lead with a seventh inning home run on Friday and hit his second game-winner of the series with a solo blast in the ninth inning of Saturday’s contest.

Stanton’s league-leading 19th home run of the season came in the fourth inning and put the Hoppers up 2-0. The home run came just hours after Stanton was tabbed the South Atlantic League’s player of the week after opening the second half of the season with a .438 (7-for-16) average which included three home runs, six RBIs and six runs scored.

Stanton finished the night going 2-for-4 from the plate while scoring two runs and collecting three RBI; he was also walked once. His other hit was a seventh inning double that added to his already league-leading total of extra-base hits.

After getting tagged with six runs on 10 hits in just 3 2/3 innings of work during his last outing, Kyle Kaminska regained his composure following the all-star break and allowed only a solo home run in the sixth inning to improve to 5-3 on the season. Kaminska lasted 5 2/3 innings in the series finale and struck out five batters, including four through the first two frames.

Entering the seventh inning, the Hoppers were being out-hit by the Legends despite leading on the score board. All of that quickly changed as Greensboro put up four runs on four hits to extend its lead to six runs and take a plus-one advantage in the hit column; Lexington eventually added four more hits in the contest to edge out the Hoppers, 11-9, but it was the four-run seventh that won the game for Greensboro.

Greensboro finished the rare five-game series with a 4-1 record and nine home runs. Along with Stanton, Tom Hickman homered in the fifth inning to put the Hoppers on top by a 3-0 ledger.

The Hoppers return to NewBridge Bank Park for the first time since June 11 when Greensboro completed a three-game sweep of Lexington before wrapping up the first half on the road against West Virginia. Greensboro opens a two-game series Tuesday at 7:00 against West Virginia before facing Kannapolis for four.

RHP Alex Sanabia (2-1, 4.02) will make his fourth home start of the season where he is currently 0-0 with a 6.28 ERA; West Virginia is slated to counter with RHP Evan Anundsen (6-4, 3.75).

Postgame Quick Stats
Win – Kyle Kaminska (5-3); Loss – Luis Pardo (0-3); Save – None
Time – 2:59; Attendance – 3,696
*****from Justin Stottlemyre Hoppers’ media assistant*****