Greensboro Grasshoppers Friday Night Baseball Report…
brought to you by Mike Causey for North Carolina Insurance Commissioner…..
Final from Friday night at First National Bank Field:
Greensboro Grasshoppers 6, Aberdeen IronBirds 4
WP:Valentin Linares(1-0)
LP:Hunter Roth(0-1)
SV:Cy Nielson(6)
Hoppers' Line-6-9-1 Birds' Line- 4-7-0
Greensboro Grasshoppers(51-28/12-2)
Aberdeen IronBirds(41-39/7-7)
The Bottom of the Sixth Inning in the Friday night Greensboro Grasshoppers game was one of the most Electric Innings, that I have ever seen…The key moments from that inning will stick with you for at least a few days…The Hoppers had taken the early 2-0 lead over the Aberdeen IronBirds, and then the ‘Birds spoiled an outstanding start from righty Patrick Reilly, by scoring two runs in the Top of the Sixth Inning…
Reilly was relieved of his duties, and he exited the ballgame after 5 2/3s innings, and his replacment, Valentin Linares was unable to hold the lead for Reilly…Aberdeen’s runs were both unearned, as the ‘Birds scored on an error, and then got their other run, on a Wild Pitch…So Patrick Reilly has to leave, and then ends up with a No Decision, but the crazy thing is, Valentin Linares ends up picking up the Win….
And that takes to our special moment, as we head to the Bottom of the Sixth Inning, with the game all tied up, at 2-2…Here we go as four Greensboro Grasshoppers batters changed the course of their team’s direction, on a very special Friday night at FNB Field…
Bottom of the Sixth Inning, and the first Hopper to the plate was Mitch Jebb…Jebb steps up to the dish, and he has gone 0-2 on the evening, with a bunt pop-up out to the opposing pitcher, Zach Fruit, and Jebb grounded out to second baseman, Luis Valdez…So Jebb really gets the place jumping as he smacks a fly ball to the Dream Catcher’s Travel sign, in right-center field…It looked like the bouncing ball might leave the stadium, on a bounce for a ground-rule double, or the ball took off of Jebb’s like it could go Long Gone…But, Jebb ends up with a beautiful Triple….And in one of the most outstanding efforts of the year, Jebb dives head first on top of the Third Base bag, to complete his Triple-Bagger/Triple…You just don’t see effort plays like this one, all that often…Jebb is a winner, and showed on that hit, just how bad he wants these wins….
Jebb nice and safe at third base, and next up you have the Hoppers’ Jack Brannigan, and Brannigan sends a deep fly ball to right field, and this one looks like is going to leave the yard, but it is caught up against the fence, by ‘Birds right fielder, Reed Trimble…So the ball was hit deep by Jack Brannigan, and it gives Jebb plenty of time to tag up at third base, and he headed home with the go-ahead run, and the Hoppers are back on top, in front 3-2 over Aberdeen…One of the wilder things about the Jack Brannigan at-bat was, that Jack ran the play out, and he ran hard around the bases, even though he had flied out, and running very hard he hit the third base bag in full stride, and then he just kept running straight into the dugout…More of that unbelievable effort that you just don’t see every day…Jebb and Brannigan, both showcasing the overall theme of this team….”Constant Consistency”…
So, what was looking dire, at 2-2, is now looking much better…And we told you it was coming from four batters, there in the Bottom of the Sixth, and we have only heard from two of them so far…3-2 Hoppers on top, and then the next man up, Nick Cimillo, sends a hot-shot grounder past the ‘Birds third baseman Jalen Vazquez, and that hot corner grounder plants Cimillo safe at first base…
And now here comes that fourth Hopper batter for this important Sixth Inning…P.J. Hilson, who sent a line-drive ball out of the park, out by the left field 315 corner back in the fourth inning…Hilson, with one home run for the night already, and he homered back-to-back with Cimillo back in the fourth…Well, guess what??? Hilson has an encore for us…Hilson homers again in this game, and this time his two-run shot to deeper left field, leaves the Greensboro Grasshoppers for sure, in front to stay, with the home team now leading the visiting IronBirds, 5-2….
In front to stay, and what do you say….Those four At-Bats by the Greensboro Grasshoppers, in the bottom of that important Sixth Inning, were a wonderful sight to behold…”Constant Cosistency”, and “Character”, this team is built from the ground up, with those key principles being the main things….
If Mick Foley was there, or if he was Cactus Jack, or ManKind, or even Dude Love, he would have loved this Sixth Inning effort by the home team, and Mick would have been saying, “Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang”….And in the end, he would have joined in the nightly course rendition of, Hoppers Win, Hoppers Win, Hoppers Win, Hoppers Win Again…
Here is how the game winning roll goes…Hoppers are (20-3) over the past four weeks in the SALLY League…The Grasshoppers have now won Nine(9) games in a-row…Your Greensboro Grasshoppers have gone (6-0) so far this week…
I gave you a pretty good rundown of how I saw it, or least how I think I saw it, and in that Bottom of the Sixth Inning, there was so much going on, that Baron Von Raschke would have trouble getting a full claw/grip on this one, but there you have it….And now we will go to the game box score tracking for verification, to see if our story, will stack up with theirs…..And before we add their info in, let me remind you that after three more Home Runs tonight, the Greensboro Grasshoppers have now homered 124 times in this 2024 season…Now for the fact checker…
The story of that Hoppers’ Sixth Inning from the Game Tracker:
Bottom 6th
*****Greensboro Grasshoppers at the plate*****
Pitching Substitution
Pitching Change(Aberdeen IronBirds): Houston Roth replaces Zach Fruit.
Mitch Jebb triples on a fly ball to right fielder Reed Trimble.
ABD 2,GBO 2
Jack Brannigan out on a sacrifice fly to right fielder Reed Trimble. Mitch Jebb scores. 1 out
ABD 2,GBO 3
Nick Cimillo singles on a ground ball to shortstop Carter Young, deflected by third baseman Jalen Vasquez.
(Young grabbed the richocet off of Vasquez’ glove.)
P.J. Hilson homers on a fly ball to left field. Nick Cimillo scores.
ABD 2,GBO 5
Geovanny Planchart lines out to center fielder Mac Horvath. 2 outs
Wyatt Hendrie strikes out swinging. 3 outs
There you go, and for the game the Hopper Hitters go like this:Termarr Johnson 2-4/Double…Mitch Jebb 1-4/Triple/Run…Jack Brannigan 0-2/BB/Run/SAC Fly RBI…Nick Cimillo 2-4/HR/2 Runs/RBI…Cimillo to 16 HRs and 46 RBI on the season, in 45 games…P.J. Hilson 3-4/2 HRs/Double/2 Runs/3 RBI…HRs #8 and #9 on the year for Hilson…Hilson for sure our Offensive Player of the Game for this game…Wyatt Hendrie 1-3…Sergio Campana 0-2/BB…
Got to give it up too, to Patrick Reilly for his start…He nearly made it six innings, and that would be just about the third time he has done that at home this season…Reilly the righty ready again tonight, going 5 2/3s Innings, allowing two runs, on 3 hits, with 4 BBs/9 Ks…Reilly a tough-luck No Decision man, in Friday night’s game…98 pitches on the night for the Righty Reilly…Valentin Linares got the win, going 1 Inning, and he gave up 2 runs, on 3 hits, with 1 BB/2 Ks/ and he gave up a two-run HR…Solid work from Brandon Bidois, throwing hard and striking out 2 ‘Birds in his 1 1/3 innings of work…Cy Nielson worked to the ninth inning to earn his sixth Save of the season, in eight attempts…Cleanest slate you will ever see from Nielson….All Zeros…No runs, no hits, no walks, and no strikeouts….
For the IronBirds at the plate you had, Tavian Josenberger 2-5/HR/2 RBI…Carter Young 2-3/Double/BB/Run…Jalen Vasquez 2-4…Luis Valdez 1-4/Bunt Single/Run…
Aberdeen starting pitcher Zach Fruit worked five solid innings, allowing 2 runs, on 5 hits, with 1 BB/3 Ks…Fruit gave up the back-to-back Home Runs, to the Hoppers’ Nick Cimillo and P.J. Hilson, in the fourth inning…
So, I don’t no about you, but that is about ALL I have for us, from the Friday night Hoppers’ victory…
Let’s hit the Game Particulars:
Attendance-4,344
Time of Game/TOG-2:32
Game Time Temp-85 Degrees
Up Next:
Aberdeen IronBirds(41-39/7-7) at the Greensboro Grasshoppers(51-28/12-2) on Saturday night at First National Bank Field…First Pitch due in at 6:30pm…..If you can’t make it out to the games, be sure to Listen Live, when you CLICK HERE for GSOHoppers.com…
