Offensive Outburst Sends Asheboro Past Boone
McCrary Park – July 22nd, 2026
By: Camden Hurst
ASHEBORO, N.C.— After wearing two pitches earlier in the night, Reggie Sharpe delivered the biggest swing of his summer.
Sharpe crushed his first home run of the season— a three-run shot to right field in the seventh inning— to cap a 17-run offensive performance as the Asheboro Zookeepers defeated the Boone Bigfoots 17-7 Wednesday night at McCrary Park.
The victory snapped Asheboro’s two-game skid and came in a matchup between two teams looking to end losing streaks.
The Zookeepers struck first in the opening inning. Daniel Stephens worked a leadoff walk before Sharpe lined an RBI double into right field to score the game’s first run. Chazz Grossington followed with a sacrifice fly to center, bringing Sharpe home for a 2-0 advantage.
Boone answered in the third inning. Olmedo Quezada issued a bases-loaded walk before Kenneth McKinley cleared the bases with a triple to center field, giving the Bigfoots a 4-2 lead.
Asheboro immediately began chipping away. Brady McGuire drove an RBI double to right in the bottom of the third to score Stephens and cut the deficit to one, though Sharpe was thrown out at the plate trying to score on the play.
The Zookeepers evened the score in the fourth after Tyler Peller drew a walk and another free pass forced in the tying run. Stephens then lifted a sacrifice fly to center, bringing home Drue Saenz and putting Asheboro back in front, 5-4.
The offense broke the game open over the next three innings.
Saenz emptied the bases with a three-run triple to left-center in the fifth before Wyatt Bush followed with an RBI single to make it 9-4. Boone answered in the sixth on Landon Franklin’s two-run homer, trimming the lead to 9-6.
Asheboro responded right back.
Stephens scored on an errant throw in the bottom of the sixth before AJ Malzone launched a two-run home run over the right-field wall, extending the advantage to 12-6.
An inning later, Sharpe provided the exclamation point.
After being hit by pitches in two earlier plate appearances, the second baseman turned on a pitch and drove a three-run homer over the right-field fence, scoring Stephens and Bush to push the lead to 16-7. It was Sharpe’s first home run of the season and highlighted a night in which he reached base four times, drove in four runs and scored twice.
Tyler Peller added the Zookeepers’ final run in the eighth, drawing a bases-loaded walk to complete the 17-7 victory.
Asheboro finished with 12 hits but took full advantage of Boone’s wildness, drawing numerous walks and hit-by-pitches throughout the night. Saenz drove in three runs, Malzone homered and finished with two RBIs, Grossington added two RBIs, and McGuire collected two doubles.
Quezada battled through five innings to earn the win before Soto and Laird combined to close out the final four innings.
The Zookeepers will look to build on the offensive breakout as they continue their push to remain the top seed in the Coastal Plain League West Division before heading into playoffs in two weeks.