Qsar Launches Two Home Runs in 7-5 Hot Rods Win

Bowling Green, Kentucky– Jordan Qsar homered twice and helped the Bowling Green Hot Rods (20-12) take a 7-5 win over the Aberdeen IronBirds (20-10) on Wednesday night at Bowling Green Ballpark in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Hot Rods and IronBirds play the third game of a six-game series on Thursday with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch.

Aberdeen scored a run in the top of the second inning against Bowling Green starter Peyton Battenfield. Zach Watson led off the inning with a solo homer to give the IronBirds a 1-0 edge. The Hot Rods fought back in the bottom of the second against IronBirds starter Connor Gillispie when Evan Edwards hit a solo homer off the batter’s eye in center field to tie the game 1-1.

Gillispie worked until the fifth, but in the third Qsar led off with a solo home run that snuck inside the foul pole in left field to take the lead 2-1. In the fifth Qsar homered for the second time to expand the Bowling Green advantage to 3-1. Osmy Gregorio followed with a double and ended Gillispie’s day. Two batters later, Ruben Cardenas doubled off IronBirds reliever Jake Prizina to score Gregorio and make it a 4-1 Hot Rods lead.

The IronBirds added a run against Bowling Green reliever Alan Strong in the top of the sixth. Adam Hall was hit by a pitch and Cody Roberts singled to start the inning. One out later, Jordan Westburg drove in Hall with a single to cut the lead to 4-2.

One run scored against IronBirds pitcher Jonathan Pendergast in the seventh inning. With one out, Greg Jones hit a solo homer to expand the lead to 5-2. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Blake Hunt led off with a single against Aberdeen reliever Logan Gillaspie. In the next at-bat, Niko Hulsizer hit a home run off the base of the batter’s eye in center field to push the Hot Rods lead to 7-2.

Aberdeen tried to close the gap in the top of the ninth against Bowling Green pitcher Christopher Gau. Watson led off with a solo homer to get the scoring started and after two more runs came in to score, the IronBirds chased Gau out of the game. Hot Rods reliever Mikey York came in and recorded the final out to secure a 7-5 victory.

Battenfield (2-0) pitched 5.0 innings, giving up one run on two hits while striking out five in a win. Strong earned a hold and tossed 1.1 innings, allowing three hits, one run, and striking out two. Miller Hogan pitched a perfect 1.2 innings earning a hold. Gau hurled 0.2 innings, giving up five hits and three runs while striking out two. York (1) pitched 0.1 innings and picked up his first save of the year.

Notes: Qsar collected his fifth multi-hit game this season… It was also his fifth multi-RBI game of 2021… Hulsizer had his fifth multi-hit game of the year… This was his fourth multi-RBI game this season… Battenfield’s 5.0 innings pitched tie his season and career-high… The Hot Rods five homers sets a new season-high, surpassing the previous high of four hit on May 26th at Asheville… BG is 6-9 this year when getting out-hit by opponents… The Hot Rods are 8-5 when their opponents score first… Bowling Green is 5-0 in two-run games… Hot Rods starters are 7-4 this year… Bowling Green and Aberdeen play again Thursday at Bowling Green Ballpark with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch… The Bootleggers will start LH Jacob Lopez (2-0, 3.48) against IronBirds LH Ryan Wilson (1-0, 0.75)… 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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