Final Game of the First Half of the South Atlantic League’s Northern Division Title Race:
Winston-Salem Dash 8, Greensboro Grasshoppers 5
Hoppers(41-25)/Dash(38-28)
[This is our Fred Anderson Toyota of Raleigh Game Report.]
In this game, the Greensboro Grasshoppers jumped out to a 5-0 lead, and then the rains hit, and there was a LOOOOOONG Delay…Hoppers up, 5-0, after 4 1/2 Innings…Then the rains came hard, and when play resumed, the WS Dash scored 5 runs, in the bottom of the Fifth Inning, and the Dash had the game all tied up, plus the WS Dash had gained the momentum, and with Big Mo in their corner, the Dash scored 3 Big Runs in the Bottom of the Seventh Inning, and the Dash went on to take this game, 8-5, over the First Half Second Place Team, the Greensboro Grasshoppers…
The Frederick Keys at (41-23), go on to claim the First Half Title in the SAL North…Keys at again, (41-23), and the Hoppers at ((41-25)…The Grasshoppers just one game behind the Keys at the end of the night, and the end of the night, was also the End of the First Half…
The Keys led the Hub City Spartanburgers, 6-2, going to the Eighth Inning in their game, and then Frederick held on to win, 6-5…Hoppers had a substantial lead over the Dash, and it slipped away, and then the Frederick Keys, had to hang on and win their game…
It was ever sooooooo close to us saying, “The Greensboro Grasshoppers are the SAL North First Half Champions”, but that will not be the story here tonight…
The story is, I don’t see the Greensboro Grasshoppers exchanging Christmas Cards with the Dash, or the Keys, during the 2026 Holiday Season…Not going to happen, don’t see that taking place…But hey, you never know…Maybe we are the only ones here, that are taking all of this Sports Championship stuff, all that seriously…
We/I just wanted to see the Hoppers bringing back that spirit and feeling that permeated during the 2011 Greensboro Grasshoppers’ Season…Back in 2011, that is the last time the Hoppers won the SALLY/South Atlantic League Season Title/Championship…Oh, what a feeling that was, back there in 2011…At that point, in 2011, that was the first time the Greensboro Baseball Organization had claimed the crown, since back in the early 1980s….
To win one of those Titles, really is something special…And what a Special Group that was back in 2011…Mark Canha at First Base, Noah Perio at Second Base, Danny Black at SS, Ryan Fisher at Third Base, Christian Yelich in LF, Isaac Galloway in CF, Marcell Ozuna in RF, and JT Realmuto at Catcher…Quite the unit right there, and they won The Title…Got there, by winning the Second Half Crown, and maybe this year’s edition of the Greensboro Grasshoppers will bounce back and take the Second Half, in 2026…
But boy, the Hoppers were sooooooo close to getting it down, they could almost taste it…Alas, the Dash beat the Hoppers on Wednesday and Thursday, and the Frederick Keys kept the pressure on, as they won their key games this week too…Still don’t see the Dash and Keys names on the Christmas Card List for this year…
From Thursday night at Truist Stadium….
We gave you that Final Score, of 8-5 Dash over the Hoppers a few times earlier, and here is most of, The Rest of the Story….
WP:Jake Bockenstedt(2-0)/LP:Jose Garces(1-1)/SV:Frankeli Arias(1)
Such a good start by the Greensboro Grasshoppers in this game, being up 5-0 early, but after the storms hit, it was all over for the Hoppers…
Top Hopper Hitters on the Night:Yordany De Los Santos 3-5/Double/2 Runs/RBI/SB…Easton Carmichael 2-4/Double/RBI/SB…Axiel Plaz 2-3/2 RBI…Murf Gray 2-5/Double/2 Runs/RBI…The Hoppers had 10 Hits on the night, and 9 of those 10 hits came from the aforementioned four Hoppers, and these four comprised the Top Four Spots, in the Greensboro Grasshoppers batting order…The other Hopper Hit went to Tony Blanco Jr., and he went 1-4/HR/Run/RBI, and Blanco Jr.’s home run, was his 12th of the ’26 season…
WS Dash' Line-8- 7-1 Hoppers' Line-5-10-1
The Hoppers’ pitcher that came on after the storm, Victor Cabreja, got rocked for his 1 2/3s Innings…He gave up 5 Runs, on 2 Hits, with 3 BBs/2 Ks, plus he surrendered a Three-Run Home Run to the Dash’ Alex Ungar…Losing Pitcher from the Grasshoppers, Jose Garces, went 1 1/3 Innings, and allowed 3 Runs, on 3 Hits, with 0 BBs/1 K…
Game Details:
Attendance-3,147
Time of Game-2:42(1:14 Delay)
Game Time Temp-85 Degrees/Cloudy
Up Next:The Greensboro Grasshoppers(41-25) at the Winston-Salem Dash(38-28), on Friday night @ 6:30pm, at Truist Stadium, in Winston-Salem, N.C.