Piper Rockets Late Homer, Hot Rods Edge Dash 10-8

Bowling Green, Kentucky– Kenny Piper, Carson Williams, and Willy Vasquez all launched homers to carry the Bowling Green Hot Rods (26-25) to a 10-8 victory over the Winston-Salem Dash (29-24) on Friday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

The Dash offense jumped out early in the top of the first inning against Hot Rods starter Cade Halemanu. Loidel Chapelli reached on a fielder’s choice and Michael Turner walked to put runners on first and second. Shawn Goosenberg homered over the left field wall, scoring both runners to hand Winston-Salem a 3-0 lead.

Bowling Green answered back with a run in the bottom of the first off Winston-Salem starter Andrew Dalquist. Williams, Bob Seymour, and Vasquez all worked walks to load the bases. Kameron James walked to score Williams and make it a 3-1 ballgame.

In the bottom of the second, Blake Robertson led-off with a walk and Dru Baker earned a bunt single that put runners on first and second. Williams collected a 4-3 lead for the Hot Rods on a three-run homer over the left centerfield wall. Winston-Salem tied the game in the top of the third on an RBI single from Wilfred Veras.

James led-off the bottom of the third with a single and scored on an RBI double from Kenny Piper, putting the Hot Rods up 5-4. Winston-Salem tied it back up in the top of the fourth off Bowling Green reliever Keyshawn Askew. Wes Kath led-off with a walk and Chris Lanzilli singled to put runners on first and second. After both runners moved up on a groundout to third, Kath scored on a passed ball to move the score to 5-5.

In the bottom of the fourth, Baker and Williams worked back-to-back walks to put runners on first and second. Baker scored on an RBI single from Vasquez to collect a 6-5 lead for Bowling Green. Michael Turner tied it at 6-6 with an RBI double in the top of the fifth.

The Hot Rods scored more runs in the bottom of the seventh against Dash reliever Kade Mechals. Vasquez walked and scored on a two-run homer from Piper that put the Hot Rods up 8-6. In the bottom of the eighth, Williams was hit by a pitch and Vasquez lifted a two-run homer off Winston-Salem reliever Jake Palisch to make it 10-6. The Dash plated two runs in the ninth off Haden Erbe, but the right-hander was able to keep the Winston-Salem offense at bay to lead Bowling Green to a 10-8 victory.

Aneudy Cortorreal (1-1) earned the win, tossing 2.0 scoreless frames while striking out five. Mechals (0-1) collected the loss, allowing two runs on a hit, two walks, and three strikeouts over 2.0 innings.

Bowling Green and Winston-Salem play the penultimate of a six-game series on Saturday with first pitch set for 6:35 PM CT. The Hot Rods are set to start RHP Roel Garcia III (2-3, 4.78), while the Dash are rolling out LHP Brooks Gosswein (1-3, 3.79).

Fans can catch all the action by watching on MiLB.tv or listening through the MiLB First Pitch App, tuning into Talk 104.1 FM and 930 AM WKCT, or visiting https://www.milb.com/bowling-green/fans/audio-listen-live.

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Hot Rods Baseball