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Final from just a beautiful morning/afternoon at First National Bank Field, in downtown Greensboro:
Greensboro Grasshoppers 4, Rome Braves 1
WP:Bubba Chandler(2-0)/LP:Tyler Owens(0-2)/SV:Cy Nielson(4)
Greensboro Grasshoppers(12-5)
Rome Braves(6-10)
Hoppers-4-7-2 Braves- 1-6-2
Just a near-perfect day for baseball in the Gate City, when you look at how nice the weather was for the Guilford County Schools Kids Day Baseball Game, with the Greensboro Grasshoppers knocking off the Rome Braves…Outstanding starting pitching from the Hoppers’ Bubba Chandler, and when his teammates scored some runs for him, he seemed to bear down, and pitcher even stronger…Jackson Glenn had a big day at the plate for the Grasshoppers, and he was also steady in the field, from his defensive position, at third base…
Looking back at that gathering of School Kids, with the GCS Middle School sixth-graders in attendance, the group of kids swelled to 5,789, and today’s gate of kids coming into the ballpark, was declared a sellout…Not sure how many teachers, teachers assistants, principals, and just overall helpers were in there, but the crowd was loud, and very proud of their Greensboro Grasshoppers on this special day, at First National Bank Field…The kids loved the music, the dogs, the dancing dogs, the Hoppers new fan motivator Curve/Kerve, they ate up the ballpark food, and just about everything that wasn’t nailed down, was going home with these sixth grade kids, after their trip to the ole’ ballyard….And the memories, they will last a lifetime, for these young children…
And how about the game, you might say….
The Grasshoppers’ Bubba Chandler was a guaranteed Steak n Shake Player of the Game for the way he threw/pitched today….Chandler got the start, and the right-hander from Lawrenceville, Georgia did not disappoint, as he took on the team from his home state, the Rome Braves…Chandler went five innings of shutout baseball, allowing the no runs, on two hits, with three walks, and NINE big strikeouts…Taking down those nine batters by way of the “K”, made it a really big day, for Chandler….Big stuff all the way around for Bubba, on this Wednesday…
Jack Carey pitched one inning of scoreless relief for Greensboro, striking out one Brave batter, and the only blemish for Carey was that he struck/hit one batter, plunking the Braves’ catcher, Drake Baldwin…Michell Miliano worked late relief on the hill for the Hoppers, and Millie got a little silly over his two innings, giving up the only Rome run of the afternoon/day, as Miliano allowed the one run, on three Brave hits, with two walks and three strikeouts, over his two innings on the bump…
Cy Nielson came on to pitch the ninth inning for Greensboro, and he picked up his fourth Save of the Season, with nothing but the proverbial goose eggs showing up on Cy’s ledger….No runs, no hits, no walks, and no strikeouts, just good old efficient pitching from the man, who now already has saved four games in 2023, and we still have four days/games left in the month of April…
For the Bravos, Brandon Parker scored their lone run of the contest, while Bryson Horne had the big bat of the day for Rome, as he went 3-4 at the plate, but all of his hits came as singles…The one run allowed, and limiting the Braves to no extra-base hits, not a bad day at the office for the Greensboro Grasshoppers pitching staff, led by Bubba Chandler and Cy Nielson…
For the Grasshoppers at the plate/dish, they had enough chances to feast on the Braves’ pitching, and the Grasshoppers made the most of those possibilities…Seven hits for Greensboro, and it was like a big three-course meal for Big Will Matthiessen when he ripped a three-bagger to right field, and found himself at third base, with a Triple…Big Will smacked his Triple in the third inning off of the Braves starter, Tyler Owens, and Matthiessen came into score off of a single by his Hopper teammate, Maikol Escotto..The Hoppers picked up a lead in the third inning that they would never give back, and they simply added to the lead, when Jackson Glenn connected on the first of his two Doubles, with his drive to right field, scoring Jase Bowen, in the fourth inning…
For the Grasshoppers their scoring in this game was not bunched up, it was very well spread out, with Greensboro posting one run in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings…And again, he won’t be fooled again, as Jackson Glenn led the Hoppers’ hitting charges, going 2-4 at the plate, with his two Big Doubles, plus he scored one run, and also drove in a run…Steak n Shake Player of the Game honors for Glenn, in this Hoppers win…
As for the score of this game, the Grasshoppers led all the way, and were on their way to the shutout victory, until the Braves scored that one lonely run, in the top of the seventh inning…4-0 Hoppers, up until that point, and as for the Braves pitching, their starter Tyler Owens just gave up one run, but it came at a point in the game, where he would go on to become the losing pitcher…Owens gave up that one run in the bottom of the Hoppers third inning, and the Greensboro Boys never looked back…Owens went on to strike out four Hopper hitters in this game…
Ryder Jones came on to work for the Braves when Owens was done, but the Brave pitcher that got many an old-time baseball fan talking was JJ Niekro, the son of former Atlanta Braves pitcher Joe Niekro, and the nephew of the other former Brave knuckleballer, Phil Niekro…Both Phil Niekro and JJ’s dad Joe Niekro are deceased….Phil Niekro is in the Baseball Hall of Fame…Didn’t see JJ Niekro using the knuckler today, but he did get in four innings of relief pitching work from the Braves’ bullpen…Prior to today JJ Niekro had only been a starter for the Braves, having started 3 games in 2023…Now JJ Niekro is working from the pen, and he can give Rome long relief help, if he stays in the relief portion of their rotation…Niekro struck out four batters over four innings on Wednesday, plus he allowed two runs on four hits…The Braves just kept on running Niekro back out there, and he just continued to bring it to the plate…
All-in-all, a great day to be at the ballpark, with the Hoppers winning again, and this game just going for two hours, and seven minutes…When you can get it done, at that pace, there is plenty of time left to go home and enjoy the rest of your afternoon…
As the old saying goes, and we said it again on Wednesday afternoon, “Hoppers Win, Hoppers Win, Hoppers Win Again”, and then it was time to head out and let this one soak in for a few hours….
Game Details:
Attendance:5,789
Time of Game/TOG-2:07
Game Time Temp:60 degrees at 11:01am
Up Next:
The Hoppers are now at (12-5), and the Braves sit at (6-10), with Game Three of this Six-Game series due on Thursday night, at First National Bank Field….Hope to see you there, and if you can’t make, be sure to Listen Live to the Grasshoppers games on GSOHoppers.com…Just CLICK HERE and you are there…You can also listen along while you are at the ballpark, and watching the game…Follow the Hoppers all season long, on GSOHoppers.com and CLICK HERE and the game is in your ear…