Witherspoon and Qsar Hit Back-To-Back Homers in 6-3 win

Bowling Green, Kentucky– Grant Witherspoon and Jordan Qsar launched back-to-back homers in the eighth inning to give the Bowling Green Hot Rods (34-16) a 6-3 victory against the Greensboro Grasshoppers (29-23) on Friday at Bowling Green Ballpark in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Hot Rods and Grasshoppers play again on Saturday with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch.

The Grasshoppers scored their first run of the game against Hot Rods starter John Doxakis in the top of the third. Andres Alvarez reached on an error and advanced to second on a stolen base. Matthew Fraizer doubled to bring in Alvarez and give Greensboro a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third, the Hot Rods plated their first run against Grasshoppers starter Grant Ford. With one out, Luis Trevino doubled to right-center field and advanced to third on a single by Jacson McGowan. Pedro Martinez drove in Trevino with a double down the right-field line to tie the game at 1-1.

Bowling Green added one run in the fourth inning with Ford still on the mound. In the second at-bat of the frame, Niko Hulsizer launched a 464-foot solo home run to left-center to give the Hot Rods a 2-1 edge. The homer is Hulsizer’s 11th of the season and his first in the month of July.

Another run came in to score in the fifth inning against Ford and Greensboro reliever Bear Bellomy. Jacson McGowan singled with one out and stole second base. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and Erik Ostberg brought him in to score with a single to increase Bowling Green’s advantage to 3-1. Greensboro added a run in the eighth inning to bring the Hot Rods lead down to 3-2.

The Grasshoppers tied the game in the top of the eighth inning but the Hot Rods regained the lead in the bottom of the frame against Greensboro pitcher William Kobos. Connor Hollis led off the inning with a single, and two outs later, Witherspoon hit a line-drive home run inside the foul pole and into the Greensboro bullpen in right to give the Hot Rods a 5-3 advantage. Qsar made it back-to-back homers, also putting his into the Grasshoppers bullpen to increase the Bowling Green edge to 6-3. Miller Hogan entered the game for the ninth and locked down the save to give the Hot Rods a 6-3 win.

Doxakis pitched 5.0 innings, giving up one unearned run on one hit, while striking out a season-high seven in a no-decision. Trevor Brigden tossed 2.0 innings while surrendering one run on one hit and striking out one. Alan Strong (4-0) hurled one inning, allowing one run on three hits with one strikeout in a blown save and his fourth win of the season. Hogan (2) picked up his second save of the year, letting up one hit over 1.0 scoreless inning.

Notes: Doxakis struck out a season-high seven batters, falling one shy of his career-high… His 5.0 innings pitched is also a season-high… McGowan had his seventh multi-hit game of the year… Witherspoon collected his fourth multi-hit game and his eighth multi-RBI game of the season… Trevino had his fourth multi-hit game of 2021… Witherspoon and Qsar hit the first back-to-back home runs since Edwards and Qsar on June 27th against Hickory… This was the third time this season that Qsar has been involved in back-to-back homers… Bowling Green and Greensboro are tied in their all-time series, 4-4… The Hot Rods are 1-2 in three-run games this year… BG is 15-7 when opponents score first… They are 22-2 while outhitting the opposition… The Hot Rods and Grasshoppers play the fifth game of a six-game series Saturday with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch… The Hot Rods send RH Zack Trageton (4-1, 3.89) to the mound against Grasshoppers RH Carmen Mlodzinski (2-2, 1.72)… 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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