HiToms drop 5-2 decision to Owls
Courtesy of Daniel Frey with HiToms Baseball
High Point-Thomasville, N.C. – The High Point-Thomasville HiToms (5-4) couldn’t overcome the Forest City Owls (6-2) momentum gained in the sixth inning in a 5-2 defeat on Friday night.
Forest City brought in the first run of the game on a double steal attempt bringing the speedy Adam Groesbeck in from third.
The HiToms wouldn’t answer until the bottom of the fourth when Forest City starting pitcher A.J. Olasz (1-0) picked up a throwing error allowing the tying run to cruise in. David Fry delivered an RBI sacrifice fly to center field putting the HiToms on top 2-1 after four innings.
The turning point was in the top of the sixth inning when HiTom hurler Ryan Kahny (0-2) was pulled after 5 2/3 innings of work while striking out eight batters. Reid Clements came out of the bullpen and surrendered a 2 RBI double in the gap to Erik Williams putting the Owls back in the lead 3-2.
The score remained the same until the top of the ninth when Ryan Owens was brought on in relief. He struck out Milton Rivera with one out but the ball got away from catcher Zac Almond putting Rivera on and he would later score on an RBI single by Adam Groesbeck. Another run was manufactured by Groesbeck who stole second and third. Groesbeck was driven in by Nick Tierno RBI single to cap off two important insurance runs for the Owls.
HPT went down one, two, three in the bottom of the ninth as Chaz Miller picked up his second save of the season for Forest City.
The HiToms have a lengthy road trip to Morehead City on Saturday, June 11 to take on the Marlins at 7:05 p.m.