Going back to the Winston-Salem Dash series, back to nearly Two Weeks Ago on a Saturday night(May 2), the Greensboro Grasshoppers had been on a tear, having won Eight-of-Nine Games, but it all changed on a so-called “Quiet Matinee Morning”, at Lakewood, New Jersey…A Wednesday morning in May, and it was time for the Matinee, and this time around both teams came ‘To Play’, but it was the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, who had the final say, on who would walk away, with the Victory on this day…
(This is our Fred Anderson Toyota of Raleigh Game Report)
From Wednesday Morning May 13, at Lakewood, New Jersey:
Jersey Shore BlueClaws 3, Greensboro Grasshoppers 2
WP:Ryan Dromboski(2-2)/LP:Bryan Mena(0-4)/SV:Brandon Beckel(1)
BlueClaws' Line-3-6-0 Hoppers' Line- 2-5-1
Greensboro Grasshoppers now at (22-13) for the season, and Jersey Shore goes to (16-18) in the First Half of the 2026 South Atlantic League baseball season…
The Jersey Shore BlueClaws took the early 1-0 lead, at the end of the First Inning, but then the Greensboro Grasshoppers got hopping mad, and fought back to take a 2-1 advantage, as the action moved on to the bottom of the Second Inning…That’s where Jersey Shore’s Trent Farquhar singles on a ground ball to Greensboro left fielder Brian Sanchez. Joel Dragoo scores for the BlueClaws, and Jersey has tied the ballgame up, at 2-2, going to the Top of the Third Inning…The Hoppers had runners on the corners, with two outs in the Top of the Third Inning, but the Hoppers’ Jared Jones strikes out swinging.
The Bottom of the Fourth Inning decided this game, which we have been calling the “Wednesday Morning Matinee”, and it was a tough way for the Greensboro Grasshoppers to see their Winning Stretch, come to and end…Jersey Shore’s Brock Vradenburg walked to start off the Bottom of the Fourth, and after a Wild pitch by Greensboro pitcher Bryan Mena. Brock Vradenburg scores…And that made the score, 3-2 Jersey Shore, and that was all the ‘Claws would need on this day, to get the Win…Very steady and solid day, from Jersey Shore’s right-handed starting pitcher, Ryan Dromboski, the Hamilton, New Jersey native, who worked 6 Innings, giving up 2 Runs, on 5 Hits, with 1 BB/6 Ks…In some ways a tough day for the Hoppers starter on the hill, Bryan Mena(0-4), who went 5 Innings, and he allowed 2 Runs, on 4 Hits, with 3 BBs/5 Ks…
Both teams’ bullpens gave up very few hits, and absolutely NO Runs, plus it was mostly going, Three-Up/Three-Down, after the Fourth Inning of this contest…John Spikerman was 2-4 at the plate for the ‘Claws, and he had a Triple, plus he scored one run…Virginia Tech product, Nick Biddison, had the other multi-hit day for the BlueClaws, as he went 2-4, with a Double…Spikerman and Biddison, both with extra-base hits for JS, on Wednesday morning…
The Greensboro Grasshoppers came up with 5 Singles on the day, with Edward Florentino, Axiel Plaz, Jared Jones, and Jhonny Severino all going 1-4 for this day, while Shalin Polanco was 1-3/RBI…Matt King(RBI) drew the only Hoppers’ free pass/Walk of the day, and on the other side of the coin, the Greensboro Grasshoppers struck out 10 Times, on Wednesday…
With the Jersey Shore BlueClaws in front at home, and their 3-2 lead after Four Innings, being just enough of a margin to close this game out, it was the Three-Batters-Up/Three-Batters-Down, for the rest of the day…..The Hoppers had not lost many games lately, but they let this one, slip by them, at the “Morning Matinee”…This was also a Super-Fast Moving Game, after the Fourth Inning, and the Time of Game, came in at just over the Two-Hour Mark, at officially, Two Hours, and One Minute…
Game Details:
Attendance-3,384
Time of Game-2:01
Game Time Temp-68 Degrees and Sunny, @ 11:03am…
Up Next:Greensboro Grasshoppers(22-13) at the Jersey Shore BlueClaws(16-18), on Thursday night, with the First Pitch coming in, at 6:35pm…..