from Callie Cline, Director of Greensboro Grasshoppers Media, and from www.gsohoppers.com…Plus our nightly report from GreensboroSports.com and from The LONG GONE Baseball Radio Network…
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Greensboro Grasshoppers defeated the Winston-Salem Dash, 3-1, on Saturday, June 28, at First National Bank Field. With the win, the Grasshoppers improved to 6-2 in the second half of the season, while the Dash dropped to 3-5. Despite being outhit 5-4, Greensboro capitalized on key moments, while Winston-Salem committed one defensive error.
Infielder Konnor Griffin led the charge for Greensboro, going 3-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Jesus Castillo accounted for the Hoppers’ only other hit.
For the Dash, Arxy Hernandez led at the plate, finishing 2-for-4 with one RBI. Additional hits came from Sam Antonacci, Samuel Zavala, and Matt Hogan.
Right-handed pitcher Khristian Curtis started on the mound for Greensboro, earning the win and improving to 2-4 on the season. Curtis struck out six batters over five innings, allowing two hits, one earned run, and two walks. Jake Dombkowski recorded his first hold of the season, while Michael Walsh collected his third save.
Right-hander Jake Bockenstedt took the loss for Winston-Salem, falling to 4-6. He posted seven strikeouts across 5.1 innings, giving up three hits, three earned runs, and three walks.
The Grasshoppers are back in action at First National Bank Field tomorrow, Sunday, June 29 at 2:00pm for Family Funday Sunday. To purchase tickets to any Grasshoppers home game, visit gsohoppers.com or call 336-268-2255.
from GreensboroSports.com and from The LONG GONE Baseball Radio Network….
No LONG GONE home runs in this game on Saturday night, but we had perfect weather conditions, and picture perfect playing conditions, and this game went off without a hitch….
This was for sure the best weather we have had all season long, with the temperature sitting on a “Super Comfortable” 72 degrees throughout the course of the contest…..It was the best weather I have seen and felt in this town, since back in 1969 when the Houston Astros had a farm team playing here, and they had just built the Hotel California, up the street across from the old Smith Street Diner….
Such great weather, after the stifling heat and humidity, along with the violent thunderstorms from eariler in the week…This night was right, and everything was falling into place….
Konnor Griffin with a leadoff single on a liner to left field, to get the Hoppers’ offense cranking in the bottom of the First Inning, and Griffin was the offensive spark on the evening, as he ended up going 3-4, with a run scored, and an RBI…
KG also had two SBs, and with his two stolen bases, he now has gone 11-14 in Stolen Bases for the Greensboro Grasshoppers, after swiping 26-30 bags for the Bradenton Marauders, and that gives him 37-44 Stolen Bases for the season overall…
This kid is already in position for a 40-40 year, with two months left in the season…Forty stolen bases, and Forty RBI, or possibly forty SB and Forty runs scored, or mayby even Forty-plus stolen bases, 40-plus Runs, and 40-plus RBI all together on one nice spread sheet…
Griffin getting the offense going, and along with Keiner Delgado, those two scored the two runs in the first frame, that got the team going to the tune of a 2-0 lead early in this game….Key RBI by Esmerlyn Valdez(#54) and Javier Rivas(#51) and the Greensboro Grasshoppers were primed to stop the WS Dash on Saturday night…Hoppers now lead the current Six-Game weekly series, 4-1, while the 2025 season tally is Hoppers 13 wins, and Dash 4…Pretty good advantage, if you ask me…
For the night on Saturday, the Hoppers had a total of just four hits, with three of those hits belonging to Konnor Griffin, while Jesus Castillo had the other base knock…The Greensboro Grasshoppers were able to draw 5 walks, but they also did strike out 12 times, over the course of the evening…
Let’s look at other ‘Parts of the Puzzle’, where we see P.J. Hilson making the Defensive Play/Catch of the Game…Quite the “Web Gem” turned in by Hilson, when he came running in from center field, to rob Terrell Tatum of a base hit and he recorded the second out, in the top of the fifth inning…Some kind of effort, and some kind of catch by Hilson, as he hit the ground and got his glove turned under to spear the catch…One of better sliding grabs you will see this season, at First National Bank Field…
Finally, we need to heap some coals of success on the pitching staff from Saturday night’s game…Big Khristian Curtis got the start, and he got the win…Curtis set the tone for this outing, going five innings, while allowing just one run, on two hits, with two walks, and six(6) Ks, and he did hit one batter, Jackson Appel in the fourth inning…In the sixth inning, in comes big Nick Dombkowski for the Hoppers, and Nick was pretty slick too, working two frames, and allowing 0 runs, on 2 hits, with 0 BB/2 Ks…Dombkowski doing rehab work here in Greensboro this week, and hoping to be at Altoona soon, and then back on to Indianapolis, and finally he hopes to land in Pittsburgh…The last thrower/pitcher of the night was Mike Walsh, and with the Walsh mustache he is like a throwback to Jim ‘Catfish’ Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, Gene Garber and others from the days of “The Stache” back in the 1970s…Walsh worked two innings, and gave up 0 Runs, on 1 hit, with a BB/3 Ks…Hoppers struck out 11 Dash batters on the night…With the work of Walsh, it was like he was stopping The Dash, with “The Stache”…..Another 1970s Stache was the one worn by Pittsburgh Pirates’ ace pitcher, John Candelaria…It was sort of a weak, pencil-thin Stache, but “The Candy Man”, John Candelaria, had it going on too…
This appears to be a pretty decent game wrapup here, and for our REMAX Revolution Players of the Game, we go with Konnor Griffin, P.J. Hilson, Khristian Curtis, Nick Dombkowski, and Mike Walsh….
Game Details…..
Attendannce-5,007 and our guess was 5,329…
Time of Game-2:31
Game Time Temp-72 degrees
Final Score:Greensboro Grasshoppers 3, WS Dash 1
WP:Khristian Curtis(2-4)/LP:Jake Bockenstedt(4-6)/SV:Mike Walsh(3)/Hold:Nick Dombkowski(1)
Hoppers' Line-3-4-0 Dash' Line- 1-5-1
Greensboro Grasshoppers(51-22/6-2)
Winston-Salem Dash(28-45/3-5)
Next Up:WS Dash at Greensboro Grasshoppers on Sunday afternoon at 2pm…First pitch coming in at First National Bank Field, and if you can’t make it to the game, or if you are in a great mood for good listening in while at the game, go to CLICK HERE, and listen live to The LONG GONE Baseball Radio Network, on GSOHoppers.com….