Stanton, Hoppers Homer Again…..

Greensboro Wins Fifth Straight, 3-1

Charleston, W.V. – Greensboro earned its 38th victory of the season Thursday to match a franchise record for most wins in the first half.

The pitching performance by was outstanding and the hitting was as good as it needed to be as Greensboro earned its sixth straight road win, 3-1, over the West Virginia Power to equal its first-half win output from 2007 with three games still to be played before the break.

Brett Durand pitched five scoreless innings before allowing West Virginia’s lone run in the sixth as he improved to 7-3 on the season. Corey Madden relieved Durand in the sixth inning and struck out four Power batters in his 2 1/3 innings on the mound.

The Hoppers grabbed the lead with two runs in the fifth inning to break up the pitchers dual; West Virginia’s Chris Cody had pitched four shutout innings before Greensboro tagged him with three runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

Greensboro scored its first two runs with three straight hits in the fifth before Mike Stanton put the Hoppers on top by three with his league-leading 15th home run of the season. Stanton’s sixth-inning blast also ran Greensboro’s home runs streak to 18 games.

Stanton finished the game with a double to compliment his home run.

The win was Greensboro’s 10th in their last 11 games, but the Hoppers still trail Lake County as the Captains earned a 3-2 win over Hagerstown. The magic number for the Captains is two.

Greensboro and West Virginia return to Appalachian Power Park on Thursday to play the second game of a four-game series beginning at 7:05 p.m.

Postgame Quick Stats
Win – Brett Durand (7-3); Loss – Chris Cody (2-1); Save – Garrett Parcell (17)
Time – 2:27; Attendance – 5,569
*****from Justin Stottlemyre Hoppers’ media assistant*****