ZooKeepers Roll To Fourth Straight Win
The Asheboro ZooKeepers welcomed in the Holly Springs Salamanders for the first time this season.
This is the second time that the two have met this season with the Salamanders winning the first matchup.
The Salamanders won the last meeting in the first inning when they scored six runs.
On the mound for this meeting was Thad Lewis who was coming off a one run relief appearance against the Boone Bigfoots.
The Game
Lewis came out on the mound and immediately began to do his thing.
After picking off a runner at first base Lewis set down the next two batters to get out of the inning quickly.
Pierce Williams got the call to start for the Salamanders in this game and he struggled right off the bat.
ZooKeepers lead off hitter Devon Parks crushed a baseball over the right center field wall, 371 feet officially.
The party did not stop there as later in the inning Owen Blackledge was able to score on a passed ball.
That run was set up by the patient hitting of the ZooKeepers.
As they have done many times this season the Salamanders fought back hard.
In the second inning Lewis struggled mightily on the mound.
After the quick 1-2-3 inning in the first he let the first two Salamanders on base.
Back to back RBI hits tied the game at three but the Salamanders would tack on one more.
An error by second baseman Sam Seidel allowed another run to come across on what was seemingly a routine play.
The scoreboard now read 3-2 in favor of the Salamanders.
After two innings Lewis was taken out of the game after giving up four runs.
For the next few innings the ZooKeepers seemingly could not find any holes in the defense to get any runs across.
In the third inning the Salamanders tacked on yet another run of their own to extend the 4-2.
Both offenses were very quiet in the fourth inning having no real chances to get any runs across the plate.
As the fifth inning came along so did more bullpen issues for the ZooKeepers.
Tyler Behm gave up a few more base runners to allow the Salamanders to drive in yet another run to make it a 5-2 game.
Run Party
Despite being down three runs in the middle innings the ZooKeepers knew that there was a lot of game left.
The bottom of the fifth inning was an absolute party for the ZooKeepers bats.
The party got started when RJ Jimerson was able to knock in Chase Heath for the first run of the half inning.
After the run the ZooKeepers had bases loaded and nobody out and continued to score in droves.
Newcomer Yariel Diaz joined in on the party with a sacrifice fly out into right field scoring Hunter Atkins.
Runs continued to come in big bunches with a pair of RBI doubles from Sam Seidel and Zach Evans.
After it was all said and done the ZooKeepers put up a SIX SPOT in the bottom of the fifth to take an 8-5 lead.
Domination Throughout
After a huge six run inning by the ZooKeepers offense the momentum translated to the pitching staff.
Caleb Cockerham came out the bullpen and per usual was amazing.
Cockerham set down the first three batters that he faced in the sixth inning to give the bats right back to the ZooKeepers.
Runs continued to flood in for the ZooKeepers after Atkins and Diaz had a pair of RBI base hits to extend the lead to eight runs.
For the remainder of the game it was all ZooKeepers and it was not even close.
Cockerham and Richie Cimpric shut down the Salamanders hitters and the offense continued to do its thing.
In the bottom of the eighth the ZooKeepers finished off their dominant win with an RBI knock by Atkins to give them the run rule victory.
Wrap Up
The scoreboard read 15-5 in favor of the ZooKeepers, their second run rule victory of the season.
The last time the ZooKeepers had a run rule win it was against the defending champion Lexington County Blowfish.
Tomorrow the team will travel to Martinsville to face off against the Mustangs.
While the ZooKeepers have won four in a row they have not been able to beat the Mustangs yet.
Could tomorrow be the first time?
First pitch is scheduled for 7PM and can be heard on the ZK Baseball Radio Network.
You can listen live here: https://zkbaseball.mixlr.com/