Grasshoppers get it in Gear

The Greensboro Grasshoppers got it in gear with their first home win of the year at First Horizon Park on Tuesday night.  The Hoppers took on a totally different look after Monday’s 14-8 loss to the Lake County Captains.  Last night the Hoppers pounded the Captains 12-1 and they did it with excellent pitching and hard hitting.

The Hoppers starting pitcher Graham Taylor went six innings, struck out 8 and walked none.  Where on Monday the Hoppers couldn’t find the right pitching combinations, on Tuesday it was smooth sailing.  Rodolfo Encarnacion and Blake Jones came on to close things out and they looked solid coming out of the pen.

Daniel Garcia led the Hoppers at the plate with two home runs and five RBI’s.  Garcia, the designated hitter, lived up to that title when he blasted a two-run shot to left center in the second inning and then he came back and clouted a three-run homer to right field in the sixth inning.  Garcia later added a single for good measure.  Leadoff man John Raynor went 4-5 and scored three runs from the top spot in the lineup and cleanup man Jacob Blackwood continued his steady swinging from Monday going 2-5 with three runs driven in.

The Hoppers scored 12 runs on 12 hits and committed no errors, a huge improvement from Monday night.  The pitching was superb and let’s hope that skipper Edwin Rodriguez has more of these good vibes up his sleeve.

It may be tough to get the game in on Wednesday night with rain plastered throughout the afternoon forecast.  Rumor has it that the Fearsome Foursome of Doug Cockman, Bruce Bullington, Chan Harrison, and Cecil Carr were at Monday’s home-opener and we hear that South Carolina chapter-leader of greensborosports.com Rob Shelton, will be in town this weekend.