A 10-run first inning set the tone in a dominant 14-4 victory for the Asheboro ZooKeepers over the High Point-Thomasville HiToms on Tuesday night at McCrary Park.

The HiToms jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first after a solo home run against Zooks starter Spencer Floyd. However, it did not take long for Asheboro to respond in a big way. 

The Zooks batted all the way around the horn in the bottom half of the inning in what was an offensive onslaught. Asheboro scored 10 runs before the HiToms could register a second out. Dallas Callahan and Cole Laskowski both had RBI doubles in the inning while Owen Blackledge had an RBI single. The 10 runs in the first were the most in any inning this season for the ZooKeepers. 

Asheboro tacked on an 11th run in the bottom of the second by way of an RBI groundout from Trey Way to score Callahan, who led off the inning with his second double in as many at-bats. 

After getting shell shocked early, the HiToms mounted a mini-rally, scoring three straight runs across the fifth and sixth innings to make the score 11-4. The ZooKeepers’ bats went back to work in the sixth as Zack Beach hit a towering solo-home run to right field. It was Beach’s second straight outing with a home run. 

Following a clean top of the seventh from Drew Siegner, the Zooks set their sights on a run-rule win in the bottom of the frame. A one-out walk by Jacob Budzik was followed by a deep single from Lleyton Lackey that almost cleared the fence in right-center field to end the game. Laskowski was hit by a pitch in the next at-bat to load the bases and set up Blackledge for a walk-off two-RBI single. 

The ZooKeepers have now won three consecutive games by a combined score of 34-5. Each of the last three home victories for the ZooKeepers has been by the run-rule. 

The Zooks will host the Boone Bigfoots in their next game on Thursday at McCrary Park. The game will start at 7 p.m. It will be Spirit Horse Ranch Night presented by Pinnacle Bank. The ZooKeepers will wear specialty Spirit Horse jerseys that will be auctioned off during the game and awarded to the winners after the game. Bidders must be present at the end of the game to win an auction on a jersey. 

Written by Jacob Kisamore