The Will call on Saturday night’s Hopper win over Hagerstown

This one had the one hour, nine minute rain-delay, plus the Suns’ starting pitcher had a line with two balks, two hit batters and a home run against him where the batter passed the runner in front of him on a three-run connect that became a two-run homer to left and by the time I left the building it was well past midnight in the last game of the home-stand and here’s the complete account from Will Cornelius Hoppers’ media at www.gsohoppers.com.

Ontiveros Drives In Game Winner, Hoppers Down Suns in Finale

GREENSBORO, NC— After an hour and nine minute rain delay, the Grasshoppers began their series finale against the Hagerstown Suns, managing a series split after an Emilio Ontiveros walk-off single helped down the Suns in an extra inning nail-bitter 4-3.

Grasshoppers’ starter Tom Koehler fanned two in his first inning on the mound tonight, but ran into trouble in the following inning, as Hagerstown pieced together a walk and three hits to bring around the game’s first three runs.

Koehler shut down the Suns after their three run second, and finished his evening with three scoreless innings and five strike outs. His five strike outs helped him pitch around three free passes, and also marked the third time in his last four outings he has notched at least five strikeouts.

Justin Bass helped Koehler and the Hoppers’ offense to two runs of their own in the second inning, as a controversial home run brought in two runs to cut the Hagerstown lead to just one.

Bass lifted a high fly ball to left field in his second-inning at-bat, landing in the glove of a fan near the left field wall. After a quick deliberation by the umpires, they ruled there was no fan interference, but called catcher Kyle Skipworth out at second after Bass lapped Skipworth mid-trot.

Like his Hoppers counterpart, Hagerstown starter Hassan Pena settled in after the blast to record two scoreless innings before his exit at the conclusion of the fifth inning.

His replacement, Kevin Light, worked a perfect sixth inning of relief, but surrendered two singles in the seventh to help the Hoppers tie the ball game at three runs apiece. Light registered two quick outs in the seventh, but allowed Paul Gran to second base after a single to left field turned into an error that allowed Gran to move up another base. The red-hot Jeremy Synan stepped to the plate next, and delivered an RBI single to left field to even the score at three.

Lefty Daniel Jennings combined with Pete Andrelczyk to hold the Suns scoreless in their final three at-bats to help force the Saturday contest into extra innings.

The Suns had some offense brewing in the 10th inning, working back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second. Andrelczyk fanned Steven Souza in the next at-bat, but allowed the next hitter, Charlie Fermaint, to single to left field. The Hoppers’ left fielder, Synan, came up throwing to nab he runner at the plate and keep the Suns scoreless in the extra frame.

The drama continued in the next at-bat however, as a wild pitch moved the go ahead runner 90 feet closer to scoring. Andrelczyk regained his composure after the wild pitch, and struck out the batter to get the Hoppers in the dugout and set the table for some walk-off magic.

A lead off walk to Ryan Keedy acted as the catalyst in the 10th frame, as he moved into scoring position after Daniel Pertusati lined a single to left field. Ontiveros made himself the hero of the evening in the next at-bat, dumping a single in front of the centerfielder to bring around Keedy and give the Hoppers a walk-off win in the finale.

With the win, the Hoppers (42-44) salvaged a series split with the Suns, and gave Andrelczyk (2-2) his second win of the season. The Hoppers leave town to take on the Rome Braves on Monday, but will return home on July 22nd to host the Charleston RiverDogs for four games.

The July 22nd match up is scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m.

Will Cornelius
Media Relations, Intern
Greensboro Grasshoppers Baseball

2 thoughts on “The Will call on Saturday night’s Hopper win over Hagerstown

  1. This may have been the worst umped game I have ever seen. From where I was, it was CLEARLY fan interference on the home run. I will admit, the Hoppers are fortunate to win this game because they made NUMEROUS mistakes in this game.

    The crowd in the 10th inning was on the verge of rioting. I don’t think I’ve heard that at a Hoppers game in a while, if ever.

  2. Sunday N&R headline:

    Outfished by a man they call The Bass Surgeon.

    Before I read on, I thought Ed Hardin might have been talking about Justin Bass and the Greensboro Grasshoppers at Saturday night’s game.

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