Bill Hass on Baseball:Hoppers win but so does Hagerstown

Hoppers win but so does Hagerstown

from Bill Hass with Bill on Baseball(Greensboro Grasshoppers) at www.gsohoppers.com

The Hoppers stayed hot Monday night, thumping West Virginia 10-2 in a road game. It was their 15th win in their last 20 games.

But first-place Hagerstown also won, beating Lakewood 5-3 in 12 innings. That means the Suns (42-22) still lead Greensboro (38-26) by four games with six games remaining in the first half. Any combination of three Hagerstown wins and Greensboro losses clinches the Northern Division’s first-half pennant for the Suns.

The Hoppers used a combined pitching effort from Ryan Newell and Sean Townsley to throttle the Power. Newell went five innings, allowing just two hits and one run while picking up his staff-leading sixth victory of the season. Townsley, in a “piggyback” situation, pitched the final four innings, giving up one run on four hits and earning his third save.

Offensively, the Hoppers pounded out 18 hits, with Chad Wallach getting four and Felix Munoz and Juan Avila three each. Greensboro recorded four doubles, two triples and three homers. Wallach, Munoz and Cody Keefer contributed the home runs.

The teams play the second of three games tonight at 7:05 with Domingo German (5-2) pitching for Greensboro.