Bill Hass on Baseball

HOPPERS WIN IN 11 ON MORRISON’S RBI SINGLE
By BILL HASS
Gsohoppers.com

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Logan Morrison had a feeling about how Rome was going to pitch him, so he knew what he wanted to do.

And then he did it.

Morrison’s line drive single off the third baseman’s glove scored James Guerrero from second base to give the Greensboro Grasshoppers a 6-5 win over the Braves in 11 innings Wednesday afternoon at First Horizon Park before 5,195 fans.

The left-handed Morrison, who was the designated hitter in this game, got the hit off Rome lefty Tyler Wilson.

“In the dugout he said ‘they’re going to pitch me middle away and I’m going to take it the other way,’” said Hoppers manager Edwin Rodriguez. “And he did.”

Guerrero drew a one-out walk in the 11th and Scott Cousins also walked. Spike McDougall popped out for the second out, bringing up Morrison to test his theory. He took a ball, then lined the second pitch off the glove of leaping third baseman Robert Marcial into left field. Guerrero scored easily, waved around by hitting coach Anthony Iapoce, who handled the third base coaching duties.

“I figured they wouldn’t come inside to me,” Morrison said. “I like to take the first pitch to see how the ball moves, and it was down and away. The second one was the same pitch, but elevated where I could hit it.”

Morrison also drove in the game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth in an unconventional manner. Trailing 5-4, the Hoppers loaded the bases. With two outs, they brought in Wilson to face Morrison. On the second pitch, Morrison was hit on the elbow to force in Daniel Garcia with the tying run.

“I saw him warming up, so I wasn’t surprised they brought him in to face me,” said Morrison, hitting just .160 against left-handed pitching. “He hung a breaking ball and I was rolling with the pitch.”

The win enabled the Hoppers to take three of four from Rome and finish their home stand 5-3. The also improved to 3-6 in home day games.

Blake Jones, the fourth Hoppers pitcher, picked up the win. Starter Kyle Winters pitched seven strong innings, allowing four hits and two runs while striking out six.

Cousins drilled his 14th homer of the year, a two-run shot in the fifth inning that capped a four-run rally. He was the only Hoppers batter with two hits.

Rome got two hits each from Travis Jones, Brandon Hicks and Danny Brezeale. Phillip Britton hit his seventh homer of the year, a solo shot in the ninth that put the Braves ahead 5-4.

The Hoppers head out on a four-game road trip at Hagerstown that begins Thursday. They return home Tuesday, Aug. 21, against Hickory.
*****Don Moore, Robert Stutts, and all the entire greensborosports.com crew were out there in the heat and they helped bring home the victory*****

4 thoughts on “Bill Hass on Baseball

  1. nice broadcast yesterday–we enjoyed every exciting minute of it. I even taped it for Kyle’s dad who was working yesterday and not able to listen in. He listened to it this morning as he did some work on Kyle’s sisters car. Can’t wait for them to return to Greensboro for the more familiar broadcast we get from you.
    Kyle’s mom–Catherine Winters

  2. On behalf of our radio broadcast team from Wednesday’s ballgame; me, myself, and I, we thank you for tuning in and pass those tapes around. We have no direct written consent rules about who the broadcast belongs to. The local TV station was doing some taping of our radio room so they could match it up with the visiting radio room where Josh Carey, Skip Carey’s son and Chip’s brother was doing the Braves radio. The TV station was doing a big feature on Josh Carey and needed file on the home guy so they could make their usual comparisons. The TV man wanted to show the audience what it was like for the son(Josh) of big-name broadcaster(Skip) to be coming up through the minors.

    I told the TV guy I got people listening to this game out in Denver and Aravada , Colorado today and he said well I’ll be. He was shocked but then I explained the need for relatives to keep up with their professional children away from home and then he got it. The Winters and Shea families, plus the Joneses, the McDougalls, the Raynors, the Rasowskys, Burns, Stones, and others are into the games.

  3. that is great–we of course get to listen to some of those “other guys” you know when our beloved Hoppers are on the road. We don’t get our looooooooonnnnnnnggggggg gone though or our strike three strike three strike three so we throw those in ourselves when necessary!!! Our six year old Erin gets a huge kick out of the long gone and she is usually our long gone stand in. By the way that is just Arvada. We lived there for over 15 years and just recently left that area, Kyle’s sister Mallory who is a senior in high school this year still goes to school there at Pomona High the same school Kyle attended. Kyle’s aunt and my sister, Mary Shea is a big booster and follows every game with abandon. She was an all american athelte herself in college and just couldn’t live I don’t think without her neices and nephew to follow in sports. It all truly has enriched our lives beyond belief.

    Oh,and I did think twice about telling you I taped the broadcast and then let Tony listen to it. I made no money on that repeat performance–just for the record!!! Ha Ha. Okay–have a great day and we will be listening in along with the Burns, Rasowskys, Raynors, McDougalls, Joneses and Stones among others I’m sure.–Catherine

  4. Andy-I should let you know too that we have friends and family listening all over Colorado, and then Tony’s family is listening in the Napa Valley, CA, Birmingham, AL; Greenville, SC; Peoria, Ill; Southlake (Dallas), Texas; Canyon Lake, Texas. What an amazing thing.-Catherine

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