Rome storms back in eighth inning to beat Asheville

ROME, GA - The Asheville Tourists fell 7-4 to the Rome Emperors on Saturday night at AdventHealth Stadium. Game 5 of this six-game saga featured another nail-biter that was decided with late-inning drama.

Trailing 1-0 after the Emperors (7-7) scored in the first inning, the Tourists (6-7) responded with a four-run second. With the bases loaded, Trevor Austin hit into a fielder’s choice RBI. The next batter, Joseph Sullivan, then walloped a three-run blast over the right center field wall to make it a 4-1 game.

Answering in the home half of the inning, Rome plated three more runs off of starter Anderson Brito. The Tourists' right-hander had not allowed a run through his first seven and two-thirds innings in 2025, but surrendered the four runs today on as many hits and walks.

Both offenses fell silent from the third inning until the eighth as pitching took over. Asheville reliever Nick Swiney tossed three and one-third scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

In Rome’s last frame with the bats, they loaded the bases with two outs, facing Hudson Leach after Colby Langford (1-1) started the inning but was taken out after allowing a leadoff walk. Leach had not given up a run in his first three appearances.

In a pressure-packed moment, the Emperors’ Titus Dumitru cleared the bags with a triple to right field to make the difference in runs and finalize the scoring.

Asheville stranded men at the corners in the ninth to end the game.

Sullivan garnered two of the five Asheville hits. Will Bush, Jose Gonzalez and Tyler Whitaker each nabbed knocks as well.

Back for the series finale tomorrow, Asheville will play Rome one final time on Easter Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. ET first pitch before heading home.