Five Home Runs Power Grasshoppers to 10-7 Victory Over Hot Rods
from Callie Cline, Director of Media for the Greensboro Grasshoppers, and from GSOHoppers.com….
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Greensboro Grasshoppers used a five-home run performance to defeat the Bowling Green Hot Rods 10-7 on Friday, July 11, at First National Bank Field. With the win, the Grasshoppers improved to 13-6 in the second half of the season while the Hot Rods dropped to 11-8. Greensboro outhit Bowling Green 15-7, despite one defensive miscue.
Outfielder P.J. Hilson paced the Hoppers’ offense, going 3-for-5 with two home runs, two RBI, and two runs scored. Will Taylor also had a standout night at the plate, finishing 3-for-5 with two home runs, four RBI, and two runs scored. Additional hits came from Keiner Delgado (2), Geovanny Planchart (2), Javier Rivas, Jesus Castillo, and Derek Berg.
For Bowling Green, Aiden Smith led the way, going 3-for-4 with two home runs, six RBI, and two runs scored. Bryan Broecker added two hits, while Mac Horvath and Jhon Diaz each contributed one.
Connor Wietgrefe earned the win for Greensboro, improving to 4-2 on the season. The lefty struck out seven batters across six innings, allowing four hits, three earned runs, and one walk.
Marcus Johnson took the loss for the Hot Rods, falling to 5-6. The righty gave up 11 hits and 10 earned runs while striking out six in five innings of work.
The Grasshoppers continue their home series against the Hot Rods tomorrow, Saturday, July 12 at 6:30pm for Princess Night and Spectacular Fireworks Saturday. To purchase tickets to any Grasshoppers home game, visit gsohoppers.com or call 336-268-2255.
Notes from GreensboroSports.com and from the LONG GONE Baseball Radio Network….
First lasting imrpession from Friday night is Will Taylor hitting those two mammoth LONG GONE HR Shots and the fact that they were both Two-Run homers and they both came with Two Outs, and both of Taylor’s clouts came with Geovanny Planchart on, at first base…Taylor and Planchart hooking up together going/running around the bases, and headed home…Two, Two-Run, Two-Out Taylor Taters…Man that is a line from somewhere back in the 1950’s right???
(Maybe even as recent as the 1970’s.)
WOW, share line with your grandma and grandpa, cause I think they will like that one…Two, Two-Run, Two-Out Taylor Taters……
More on the Taters….In baseball, a home run is sometimes referred to as a “tater”. This nickname likely originated from the idea of “mashing” the ball, similar to mashing a potato into mashed potatoes, hence the connection to “tater,” a slang term for potato. Another theory suggests the term arose from a potato farm near the outfield fence where balls landed during games. Regardless of the exact origin, “tater” is a playful and widely accepted slang term for a home run.
I guess you could say, that the Greensboro Grasshoppers came up with a small sack of Taters on Friday night, at First National Field…Two HRs for Tater Taylor, two for P.J. Hilson, and one from Javier Rivas, who hit his 18th home run of the season, and added in his team leading 62nd and 63rd RBI…
For the game, Will Taylor went 3-5, and P.J. Hilson was 3-4, while Geovanny Planchart goes 2-4, with 2 runs, and an RBI…Shalin Polanco going 2-4, with a run scored…Hoppers with 15 hits on the night…And more talk about the Taters is Tempting…Bowling Green starting pitcher Marcus Johnson had given up 17 homers for 2025 coming into this game, and with five more dingers going out Friday night, his total is now 22 Home Runs allowed for ’25…Getting close to 25, for ’25….
We just love the LONG GONE Home Run calls, on the LONG GONE Baseball Radio Network, and we have started mentioning the LONG GONE HR T-shirts, as “The Shirt Heard Round the World”…But, I must say, all this Talk About Greensboro being ‘Tater Town’ is getting pretty interesting…Welcome to “Tater Town”…..
(They were calling us Tournament Town, and now they are gonna be calling us, “Tater Town”.)
Let’s not forget Hoppers’ Friday night starting pitcher Connor Wietgrefe on our list of REMAX Revolution Players of the Game….Taylor, Hilson, Rivas, and add on/add in Wietgrefe….You got the lefty going Six Solid Innings, giving up 3 Runs, on 4 Hits, with 1 BB, and 7 Ks…The CW also gave up a two-run Home Run, to the Hot Rods’ Aiden Smith…
Like Aiden was needing help on Friday night, since he hit Two Homers himself, and drove in Six Big Runs for the Rods…As we continue to jump all over the dial, and up-and-down the charts tonight, let’s not forget, that with the Friday night win versus the Bowling Green Hot Rods, the Greensboro Grasshoppers are now (8-7) vs. the Rods, this season…Hoppers now (4-5) at FNB Field vs. BG, and Greensboro is (4-2) at Bowling Green…
With all the “Tater Talk” some of you may be getting hungry, so we need to wrap up our visit from Down on the Farm, from Friday….
Final Score from Friday night at First National Bank Field:
Greensboro Grasshoppers 10, Bowling Green Hot Rods 7
WP:Connor Wietgrefe(4-2)/LP:Marcus Johnson(5-6)
Hoppers' Line-10-15-1 Hot Rods' Line-7- 7-0
Greensboro Grasshoppers(58-26/12-6)
Bowling Green Hot Rods(45-38/11-8)
Game Attendance-4,555
Game Time Temp-82 degrees
Game Time of Game-2:19
Quick game Rewind…Hoppers got down 2-0 in Top of the 3rd…Tied the game at 2-2, in the bottom of the 3rd…Hoppers up 3-2 end of four…Rods tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth…Hoppers go up 5-3, in the bottom of the fifth inning…Hoppers looked to have the game on ice, when they took a commanding 10-3 lead, after six innings…Then BG added 3 runs in the 7th inning, and one more run in the 8th, to get back within clawing distance, but the Hoppers were able to make that final score of 10-7 stand up…
Up Next:Bowling Green(45-38) at Greensboro(58-26) on Saturday night at 6:30pm…Hoppers and Hot Rods going at it again, with the first pitch due in at 6:30pm, at First National Bank Field, in beautiful downtown Greensboro…
If you can’t make it to the game, or if you love to listen live while you are there at the game, or on your way home, CLICK HERE to listen live to the LONG GONE Baseball Radio Network, from www.gsohoppers.com….
Scores from Friday in the South Atlantic League:
GBO 10, BG 7
WP:
Wietgrefe
(4 – 2)
LP:
Johnson
(5 – 6)
WIL 2, BRK 1
GVL 6, WS 5
HCS 10, ROM 2
ABD 3, JS 1
HV 4, ASH 3
SALLY for Saturday…
Asheville
@
Hudson Valley
5:05 PM ET
Wilmington
@
Brooklyn
6:00 PM ET
Bowling Green
@
Greensboro
6:30 PM ET
Edwards
(5 – 3)
vs.
Reed
(0 – 2)
Winston-Salem
@
Greenville
6:45 PM ET
Hub City
@
Rome
7:00 PM ET
Jersey Shore
@
Aberdeen
7:05 PM ET
South Atlantic League Standings…
NORTH-First Place:Greensboro and Hudson Valley at (13-6)…..Brooklyn won the First Half…..
SOUTH-First Place:Hub City(12-7)…Second Place:Bowling Green(11-8)…Bowling Green won the First Half…
**********The Season of the Summer, in the SALLY, Second Half…**********