Asheville Just Scored Again; Tourists Win By 20 Runs

KANNAPOLIS, NC-- The Asheville Tourists wore out their welcome in Kannapolis as they beat the hometown Kannapolis Intimidators by twenty runs on Monday night. The shear domination the Tourists put on is one for the history books. Asheville's offense, excited to no longer be stuck in Savannah, exploded and hammered Kannapolis to a tune of a 23-3 blowout.

The game began normal enough. Both teams went without a run in the first inning. In the top of the second, Max George worked a bases loaded walk to make it 1-0. Two batters later, Dom Nunez laced a two-run single to right.

In the top of the third, Yonathan Daza clubbed a two-run triple and Ryan Stephens added an RBI single. Later in the inning, Max White blasted a three-run Homer to make it 9-0. In the fourth Stephens hit an RBI double to make it 10-0. The Tourists added three more in the fifth. All three runs scored when Nunez doubled off the centerfield wall to clear the bases.

Sam Howard went six scoreless innings before allowing a run in the bottom of the seventh. The run snapped Howard's consecutive scoreless inning streak at a most impressive 23.2 innings pitched. He ended up with his seventh win of the season.

After the Intimidators made the score 13-3 heading to the eighth, Asheville continued to churn out runs. The Tourists scored six in the eighth inning on a Roberto Ramos sacrifice fly, a Shane Hoelscher RBI double, and a Jairo Rosario Grand Slam. Hoelscher hit a two-run double in the ninth and Ramos crushed a two-run Home Run for the final blow.

Daza became the third Tourists player this year to record a five-hit game. Hoelscher became the second Tourists player to record three doubles in one game. Nunez matched a Tourists season-high with five RBI and Asheville worked a season-high 12 walks. The 23 runs scored are the most scored by a team since Hagerstown scored 24 in 2012 and are six shy of the league record of 29 set by Salisbury in 1961.