A Wild Week Ends in a Double-Header Sweep

What a week of baseball.

Game One

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — It took three days, three starting pitchers and two rain delays to get there, but the Tourists got a much needed win.

What began Friday night and finally concluded Sunday morning was one of the stranger experiences of the season, a game that tested everyone's patience before ending in an 8-4 Asheville win.

Friday

Friday started promisingly. Nick Potter, the Astros' 17th-ranked prospect, made his Tourists debut and was sharp, striking out two in a scoreless first inning. Justin Thomas Jr. set the tone immediately, crushing a hanging breaking ball deep to left-center on the third pitch of the game for a leadoff solo home run. 1-0. In the second, a Freuddy Batista single to center drew a wild throw from Ely Brown that sailed over third base, scoring Anthony Huezo. 2-0. Then the skies opened up and Friday's game was postponed.

Saturday

Saturday brought Javier Perez, making his Asheville debut on the mound. He went 1.1 innings and allowed three runs on four hits before the Tourists bullpen took over. Winston-Salem tied it in the second on a Jackson Appel RBI single and a Derek Cerda RBI double to right that made it 2-2. Asheville responded in the third. With the bases loaded, Anthony Huezo bounced one back to pitcher Frankeli Arias who fumbled it. Everyone was safe and Xavier Neyens scored. Kyle Walker followed with a two-run single to push it to 5-2. Then the rain came back. The downpour was too heavy to continue and the decision was made to finish the game Sunday morning, with a seven-inning game afterwards.

Sunday

Sunday morning, Parker Smith took the ball as effectively the game's third starter. Winston-Salem got one back on a Nick McLain RBI single to make it 5-3, a run charged to Perez for putting Roch Cholowsky on base the day before, but Smith was otherwise excellent, going 3.2 scoreless innings and allowing just one hit while striking out four.

Then came the sixth inning. Freuddy Batista hit a ball deep to left that was tracked down for what appeared to be an out. But a balk had been called on pitcher Dylan Carmouche that virtually nobody in the park had seen. Batista stepped back in the box, got the same pitch, and this time destroyed it, a two-run home run to the exact same spot, just deeper. 7-3. Thomas Jr. added an RBI groundout later in the inning to make it 8-3. McLain singled in a run in the seventh to trim it to 8-4, but Andrew Marrero came on in the ninth and struck out the side to end it.

Batista was the offensive engine across all three days, finishing 3-for-3 with a home run.

Game Two

It was by no means easy, but the Tourists held on to win an extra innings thriller, 8-5. The eight-inning victory cemented a much needed series win on a wild week of baseball.

Dylan Howard started for the Tourists and was great, tossing 4.2 innings allowing one run and striking out seven.

It took until the fourth of seven scheduled innings for either team to break through. Wes Kath drove in the first run on a double to left, the only run allowed by Howard. 1-0 Dash. Asheville responded with a string of runs in the sixth. Three straight RBI singles. First from Ethan Frey to score one. 1-1. Then from Anthony Huezo to score one. 2-1. Then Jack Moss to score 2. 4-1.

Asheville carried that lead into the bottom of the seventh needing three more outs to win the series. Jackson Wells came back on after a clean sixth inning and struggled. Ben Hartl knocked a leadoff triple and was scored by the following batter, Bryce Eblin on a double. 4-2. Then an Ely Brown single brought in Eblin 4-3. Asheville caught a huge break when Nick McClain sliced a line drive right at Jack Moss who snagged it and then stepped on first base for the double play. But that would last long. The very next batter, Javier Mogollon, detonated a ball to left center. A towering solo shot with Winston-Salem down to its final out.

Tie game.

That was followed by two singles and a walk to load the bases. Wes Kath at the plate had worked himself into a 3-1 count. One ball would end it in heart breaking fashion and give the Dash the series win. Wells threw him a fastball high that he swung through to run the count full. Then fired a fastball right down the middle which Kath took for a called strike to send us to extra innings.

A massive sigh of relief after an incredibly testy inning.

Asheville started the 8th with Hector Salas on second base as the ghost runner. A wild pitch from Jesus Mendez sent Salas to third before an ill-advised throw from catcher Ben Hartl sailed into left field. Salas scored and the Tourists never looked back. With Justin Thomas Jr. at third, Ethan Frey chopped a ball back to the mound. The throw went to the plate but it was late. Thomas scored, Frey was safe at first. 6-4. Anthony Huezo followed that with an RBI double to make it 7-4 before a Jack Moss RBI single tacked on another, 8-4.

Francisco Frias came on to close it out and while a run did score on a throwing error from Hector Salas at second base, 8-5, he held on to shut it down and give Asheville a much needed three to two game series win.

The middle of the order won this game for the Tourists. Ethan Frey, Anthony Huezo, and Jack Moss, hitters three, four and five combined to go 6-for-11 with all seven of the team's RBIs.

Next up for Asheville is a double home stand. First six games with the Rome emperors starting on Tuesday night at 6:35. Then six more with the Brooklyn Cyclones.