ZooKeepers Fall on the Road in 12-5 Loss to Forest City

McNair Field – June 20, 2025

The Asheboro ZooKeepers saw their win streak snapped on Thursday night as the Forest City Owls used a powerful offensive outburst and steady pitching to hand Asheboro a 12–5 defeat at McNair Field. The Owls plated runs in six of their eight innings, taking advantage of ZooKeeper miscues and timely extra-base hits to secure the win.

---

Early Trouble Sets the Tone

Carter Daniels (North Carolina A&T) got the start for Asheboro and ran into immediate trouble. A leadoff walk, a throwing error, and a sacrifice fly plated a run in the first. Forest City followed with a three-run second, powered by RBI knocks from Dylan Koontz and Luis Ramirez.

The ZooKeepers trimmed the deficit to 4–1 in the third thanks to an RBI sacrifice fly from Sam Hunter (Catawba), but Forest City never looked back. The Owls added four more in the fifth, including a two-run homer by Walker Fox (Mars Hill), and tacked on three more in the sixth to push the game out of reach.

---

Asheboro’s Late Push Not Enough

The ZooKeepers mounted a small rally in the seventh. Boaz Harper (UNC) laced a two-run single to center to cut into the lead, and Hunter followed with an RBI base hit of his own to make it 11–4. Harper added another RBI in the eighth to finish with three RBIs on the night, but Asheboro couldn’t close the gap any further.

Rafael Soto (College of Charleston) had a strong showing at the bottom of the order, going 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Despite outhitting the Owls in the later innings, Asheboro left 10 men on base and committed three costly errors.

---

Final: Owls 12, ZooKeepers 5

Forest City finished with 12 runs on 12 hits and benefited from seven walks. Asheboro was held scoreless in six of nine innings despite tallying 10 hits of their own.

---

Next Game:

📍 Asheboro ZooKeepers @ Peninsula Pilots
📅 Saturday, June 21 – 7:00 PM at War Memorial Stadium
🎧 Listen live: https://zkbaseball.mixlr.com