Hoekstra and Unroe Achieve Firsts as Stripers Beat Rochester

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Kurt Hoekstra tossed 3.1 scoreless innings in his first career start, and Riley Unroe blasted his first career Triple-A home run to lead the Gwinnett Stripers (57-41) to an 8-4 win over the Rochester Red Wings (48-50) on Friday night at Coolray Field. Alex Jackson also homered in Gwinnett's third straight win.

Scoring Recap: In the bottom of the first inning, Jackson (21) hit a 400-foot two-run homer to left-center off Drew Hutchison to put Gwinnett up 2-0. Luis Marté extended the lead to 3-0 in the second with an RBI single. In the third, Unroe (1) hit a 396-foot solo homer to left-center to make it 4-0. Rochester tied it up at 4-4 in the sixth as Jimmy Kerrigan (3) and Jaylin Davis (13) both homered off Jason Creasy. The Stripers regained the lead at 6-4 in the bottom of the sixth on RBI singles by Marte and Travis Demeritte. Rafael Ortega added a two-run double in the eighth to make it 8-4 Gwinnett.
Stripers Stats: Hoekstra's 3.1 innings were a new career high. He also matched a career high with four strikeouts. Creasy (W, 3-1) pitched 2.0 innings and allowed four runs on three hits. Corbin Clouse (S, 1) tossed 2.0 scoreless innings and struck out two. At the plate, Unroe went 2-for-4 with a homer and one RBI, Marte went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, Jackson went 1-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs, and Ortega went 1-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.
Red Wings Stats: Hutchison (L, 6-5) pitched 5.1 innings and yielded six runs on 10 hits. Davis went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs, and Rosario went 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI.
Quote: "I'm really happy with how it went," Hoekstra said of his first professional start. "I'm enjoying the process and hopefully I can have more outings like this."
Postgame Notes: Jackson has nine homers in 15 games since June 27. Unroe is the 16th different Stripers player to hit a home run this year, raising Gwinnett's season total to 156 in 98 games.
Next Game (Saturday, July 20): Gwinnett vs. Rochester, 6:05 p.m. at Coolray Field. LHP Kolby Allard (6-4, 3.94 ERA) for the Stripers vs. LHP Devin Smeltzer (1-2, 2.59 ERA) for the Red Wings. Radio Broadcast: 5:50 p.m. on 97.7 and 93.5 FM "The Other Side of the River."