Shepherd’s Pitching and an Explosive Offensive Performance Fuels a 7-Inning Win.

Asheboro, N.C. – Ben Shepherd tossed a tied season-high 5 scoreless innings, while three different Zookeepers tallied multiple RBI’s to fuel a seven-inning mercy rule win over the Lexington County Blowfish Thursday night.

Ben Shepherd came into Thursday night as one of the best arms for the Zookeepers.  Shepherd had posted a 1-0 record, 1.29 ERA, 4 hits, seven strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.14 through seven innings to start the season.  Thursday night was more of the same for the Ace.  Shepherd retired the first 10 Blowfish that saw the plate before Mason Holten would reach first on an E4, and then Alex Lacoste would reach first immediately after on a 6-4 fielder’s choice.  Shepherd got McClaine Helton to ground out right back to the mound to strand Lacoste and complete a scoreless four innings of pitching for the righty from USC Aiken.  Ben’s no-hit bid was broken up with two outs in the fifth as Parker Mergo and Carter Blankenship went back-to-back for base hits, but Shepherd forced a ground out to short to end the inning.

While Shepherd was dealing, the Zookeepers pounced on the Blowfish’s bullpen game.  After a scoreless first, Zach Gimon came in for relief in the second for the Blowfish.  He walked the UNCW teammates of Josh Martinez and Jackson Hood on full counts before Wyatt Bush chopped a single over third base and into left field, which scored Martinez while Bush was thrown out at second.  With a runner on third, Reggie Sharpe hit a soft ground ball to short, which scored Hood from third (2-0 2nd).

In the fourth, Daniel Stephens, who hit a first-pitch leadoff home run last Friday, crushed a leadoff home run to grow the lead to three. Martinez would walk following the home run before Hood grounded into a 5-4 FC, and Wyatt Bush grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the fourth (3-0 4th).

Three straight walks to Sharpe (HBP), Connor Christiansen (BB), and Brady McGuire (BB) would lead off the bottom of the fifth before Ethan Walker, who replaced an injured Blake Brookins in the fourth, dropped an RBI single into left field.  With the bases loaded, Daniel Stephens earned his second RBI of the night off a walk that scored Christiansen.  Immediately after, Josh Martinez hit a ball off the base of the left-center field wall for a two-RBI double that scored McGuire and Walker. Jackson Hood would strike out swinging to end the fifth (6-0, 5th).

In the sixth, Joseph Yamamoto came in to replace Shepherd but picked up right where Shepherd left off.  Yamamoto delivered a three-up, three-down sixth inning and kept the lead at six for the Zookeepers.

In the bottom of the sixth, Reggie Sharpe was hit for the league-leading sixth time, while Christiansen was also hit immediately after.  Brady McGuire would then be walked on balls to make it the second straight inning that all three walked in a row to start the half-inning.  Following the trend, Ethan Walker would deliver a bases-clearing double to right center field, and the Left Fielder collected his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th RBI’s of the day. Walker would then take third on a wild pitch before Brady Schollmoser brought him in to score on a sacrifice fly to left and brought the lead to 10 to end the sixth (10-0 6th).

Yamamoto returned for the top of the seventh and just needed three outs to end the game two and a half innings early.  McClaine Helton was the first batter faced and drove a hard-hit ball to left-center field, but Daniel Stephens tracked it down to make a diving catch for the first out of the inning. Yamamoto would get Cooper Noble to strike out looking before then striking out the fourth batter of the inning to end the game in 7 innings.

Ben Shepherd claimed his second win of the season behind a stat line of: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, and 3 K.  Shepherd’s stats after tonight are now: 2-0, 0.75 ERA, 12 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 10 K, and a WHIP of 0.83.

The Zookeepers are away Friday, June 12th, but return to Historic McCrary Park Saturday for two weekend home games vs the Holly Springs Salamanders (Saturday) and the Greenville Yard Gnomes (Sunday).  Both games have 6:30 first pitches.