An eighth inning rally propelled the Macon Bacon past the Asheboro ZooKeepers on Sunday night at McCrary Park, as the visiting team held on for a 6-5 victory. 

The Bacon struck first with a single run in the first inning before Tyler McPeak responded in the bottom half of the frame with his team-leading third home run of the season to put the Zooks up 2-1. 

Asheboro tacked on two more runs in the second highlighted by an RBI single off Jay Dillard’s bat. Dillard is second on the team this season with nine hits. 

Macon scored two runs in the top of the fourth to trim their deficit to 4-3 but the Zooks answered quickly in the fifth with a run of their own on a sacrifice fly. 

After three scoreless frames by Garrett Kangas, the Bacon mounted a rally in the eighth inning. Macon scored three runs off Jaden Stockton to take their first lead since the opening inning at 6-5. The Zooks mustered just one walk in the final two innings as they were unable to find the tying run. 

Alex Edmondson started on the mound for the Zooks, throwing 3.2 innings with seven strikeouts and three earned runs against. Hunter Hill pitched a scoreless ninth inning in his second ZooKeepers appearance. 

The ZooKeepers will play two home games at McCrary Park against the High Point-Thomasville HiToms on Tuesday. The first game will start at 6 p.m. and gates will open an hour before the contest. Tickets can be purchased here and a stream can be found here.

Written by Jacob Kisamore