Dominant Pitching Gets ZooKeepers Past Hi Toms
The Asheboro ZooKeepers welcome in the High Point Thomasville Hi Toms for the second time in 48 hours.
Just two days ago the Hi Toms came into Asheboro and beat the ZooKeepers by a wide margin.
The ZooKeepers were coming off yet another road win in Martinsville against the Mustangs.
If the ZooKeepers wanted to remain in the division fight early on this would be on they need to win.
Nic Schutte would get the ball for the ZooKeepers to face off against Camden Wimbish.
Schutte was coming off another good start after struggling early on in the season.
Wimbish on the other hand for the Hi Toms throws his fastball at 95MPH and also hits, just like Ohtani.
Dominant Pitching
It is safe to say that the ZooKeepers have had some ups and downs on the season in terms of their pitching, but lately is has been stellar.
Schutte went on the mound and did what he has done his last two starts, dominate.
The first inning did go the way of the Hi Toms as they scored one run on two hits.
After giving up one run on two hits the pitching for the ZooKeepers settled in for the remainder of the game.
After the first inning, the Hi Toms did not score another run or record another hit.
Schutte, Caleb Cockerham and Spencer Floyd combined for nine innings of two hit baseball while allowing just one run.
Cockerham and Floyd did walk three batters but none of them came across the plate.
One thing that the ZooKeepers bullpen has done a good job of lately is shutting the game down while also going multiple innings in relief.
This allows coach Korey Dunbar to use as little arms as possible to save pitchers for down the line in more urgent situations.
Bats Continue To Roll
As for the offense of the ZooKeepers they kept things rolling.
After being down 1-0 going into the bottom of the first inning they erased that deficit quickly.
Catcher Yariel Diaz got the party started with an RBI double that scored third baseman Hunter Atkins.
Diaz did not have to wait long on base as he was quickly driven in by Zach Evan’s RBI triple.
Evans showed off his impressive wheels for his first triple of the season, but he would not end up scoring in the inning.
It would be a while before the ZooKeepers did put up runs on the board but when they did they scored in bunches.
In innings 5-8 the ZooKeepers put up six runs to run away with the game.
The run barrage was highlighted by a two run double from left fielder Davis Germann.
Over the last few games, Germann has become an extra base machine including a two RBI triple a few games ago.
Wrap Up
The ZooKeepers ran away with it beating the Hi Toms by a score of 8-1.
The two teams will play each other five times of the course of the next seven games.
The next home game for the ZooKeepers is Wednesday night against the Boone Bigfoots.
Wednesday is postgame fireworks at McCrary Park to celebrate the fourth of July!
You can buy your tickets online or at the McCrary Park box office.