Mead Leads Trio With Three RBIs in 11-4 Win

Bowling Green, Kentucky– Curtis Mead, Pedro Martinez, and Evan Edwards all knocked in three RBIs to boost the Bowling Green Hot Rods (43-21) to an 11-4 victory over the Winston-Salem Dash (26-38) on Friday in front of a sellout crowd at Bowling Green Ballpark in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Hot Rods and Dash play the fifth game of a six-game series on Saturday with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch.

The Dash scored two runs in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. Bowling Green quickly tied the game in the bottom of the frame against Winston-Salem starter Davis Martin. Greg Jones led off with a walk and advanced to second on a stolen base. One out later, Mead doubled to right field to score Jones and cut the deficit to 2-1. Mead moved to third on an Edwards ground out and Blake Hunt tied the game with an RBI base hit.

Bowling Green brought in five runs in the bottom of the second inning with Martin still on the mound. Connor Hollis and Hill Alexander led off with walk and Jones singled to bring in Hollis and take the lead, 3-2. Martinez walked, and in the next at-bat, Mead grounded out to score Alexander to make it 4-2. With two runners still on, Edwards crushed a ball over the wall in left-center to expand the Hot Rods advantage to 7-2.

Winston-Salem added a run in the top of the third inning to cut the lead to 7-3. After two scoreless innings, Bowling Green scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth frame. Hollis worked a one-out walk and Alexander singled to put runners at first and second. Jones walked to load the bases and Martinez brought the eighth run in with a fielder’s choice. Mead struck again with a blooper to right, scoring Alexander and giving the Hot Rods a 9-3 lead.

Two more came in to score for Bowling Green in the eighth against Dash reliever Brian Glowicki. Alexander doubled with one out and advanced to third on a base hit by Jones. Martinez cleared the bases with a double and extended the lead to 11-3. The Dash scored a run in the top of the ninth, but Hot Rods reliever Chris Gau shut the door on an 11-4 win.

Michael Mercado (1-4) tossed 5.0 innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out five in his first win of the year. Justin Sterner hurled 2.0 hitless innings, walking one and striking out five. Michael Costanzo pitched 1.0 scoreless inning while allowing one hit. Gau pitched the final inning, surrendering one run on three hits, walking one and striking out three.

Notes: Mead had his second multi-RBI game of the year… He had three RBI’s in both of his multi-RBI games… Mead also had his third multi-hit performance of the year… Edwards had his seventh multi-RBI game of the season… Jones collected his 11th multi-hit game of 2021… Mercado tied his season-high with 5.0 innings pitched… His five strikeouts fall just shy of his season-high six… Mercado earned a win for the first time in over three years… His last win was on July 12, 2018 against the West Virginia Black Bears in the New York-Penn League… Sterner’s five strikeouts tie a career-high… Bowling Green tied the franchise record for home runs in a season with 106… The Hot Rods 11 runs are the most scored since bringing in 13 on June 27th… BG is 10-6 in July… Bowling Green starters are 15-5 this season… This is the fourth-straight game a starter has earned the win… The Hot Rods have won five consecutive games, one short of their season-high… The Hot Rods and Dash play the fifth game of a six-game series on Saturday with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch… Bowling Green sends LH Jacob Lopez (2-1, 2.82) to the mound against Winston-Salem’s RH Johan Dominguez (3-4, 4.82)… Fans can catch all of the action by watching on MiLB.tv or listening through the MiLB First Pitch app, tuning into WBGN 94.5 FM and 1340 AM, or visiting https://www.milb.com/bowling-green/fans/audio-listen-live.

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