Newman hits for cycle, not enough as Zookeepers fall to Owls 6-3

McCrary Park – June 14, 2025

Despite a four-hit night and the first cycle for a CPL player since 2019 from center fielder Kruise Newman, the Asheboro ZooKeepers couldn’t overcome an early deficit, falling 6–3 to the red-hot Forest City Owls on Saturday night. The loss dropped Asheboro to 8–4 in Coastal Plain League play, while Forest City improved to 9–2, holding onto first place in the CPL West.

Owls Capitalize Early and Often

Forest City opened the scoring in the second inning on a solo home run by Luis Ramirez (UNC Pembroke) and followed with another run on a Micajah Wall (USI) RBI double. Frank Kelly (High Point University) added a solo shot in the third, extending the Owls’ lead to 3–0.

The ZooKeepers trimmed it to 3–1 in the fourth, but the Owls struck again in the sixth with a pair of RBI singles from Wall and Wyatt Kelly (UNC Chapel Hill), making it 5–1.

Newman Does It All

Newman (Tennessee Wesleyan) was a spark plug for Asheboro, going 4-for-4 with a triple, a double, a home run, a single, and three runs scored. He accounted for all three ZooKeepers runs, scoring in the fourth on a Yariel Diaz (Barton College) groundout, in the sixth on a Seojun Oh (High Point University) RBI single, and again in the eighth after leading off with a single and later crossing the plate on an error.

Pitching Can’t Contain Owls’ Lineup

Starter Hiroyuki Yamada (Southern Indiana) battled through 4.1 innings, allowing three earned runs while striking out seven. Mason McDaniel (Presbyterian) and Hayden Mills (Walters State) pitched the final 4.2 innings, combining to allow three more runs as Forest City tallied 13 hits and stole four bases.

Final: Owls 6, ZooKeepers 3

Asheboro managed just six hits, four of them from Newman, and left six runners on base. The ZooKeepers played error-free defense and turned a double play, but couldn’t slow down a relentless Owls offense.