HiToms Victorious 9-4 in Mississippi State-Infused Win
High Point/Thomasville, NC – Both Mississippi State Bulldogs on the High Point-Thomasville HiToms (19-12, 6-3) homered in a 9-4 drubbing of the Martinsville Mustangs (13-20, 5-6) on Friday night in Martinsville. HP-T scored nine runs from innings four through seven, running away from the Mustangs in the middle innings in a key road win.
With a fresh pitching staff after two recent rainouts, the HiToms were still economical with Jake Tate and two relievers The tall Ohio University lefty lowered his ERA to 3.00 with five strong innings, keeping the pesky Martinsville offense off-balance. Martinsville’s lone earned run against Tate came in the first. Afterwards, Tate scattered three walks and one hit in the subsequent innings, allowing two unearned runs as a result of defensive errors behind him.
In relief, the HiToms received bountiful pitching from Landen Smith and KJ Wells. Smith and Wells combined to strikeout five in four innings. Wells struck out the side in the ninth to close the win.
Wells has struck out at least two batters in every one of his nine one-inning appearances this year. That’s good for 22 strikeouts across his first nine innings this summer, the best K/9 rate in the Coastal Plain League.
At the plate, the HiToms were powered by the Mississippi State Bulldogs on the roster. Matt Corder and Von Seibert both hit home runs. CJ Johnson provided more offense, with a bases-clearing triple in the five-run sixth. Johnson added on more with an RBI groundout one inning later.
HP-T improved to 19-12 with the win, 1.5 games ahead of the Lexington County Blowfish for second in the overall standings. With the Savannah Bananas win over Macon, High Point-Thomasville was placed back into a playoff position after Thursday’s games.
The HiToms return home on Friday for Burgers and Brews Night at the ballpark. The HiToms battle the Asheboro Copperheads at 7:00pm. Video coverage of the game is available on flobaseball.tv.
from Shaemus Kreider