Dash beat Sox to first-half finish line

The word "stressful" was batted around the room first. Then "insanity" was thrown in. Finally, the Winston-Salem coaching staff settled on the perfect word to describe the team's first half.

"You know what, how about this? Phenomenal," manager Tommy Thompson said.

The Dash clinched the Carolina League North Division first-half title Saturday with a 9-5 road win over the Wilmington Blue Rocks.

The White Sox's Class A Advanced affiliate won nine of its last 10 games to take the crown over Salem, winners of seven straight, including an 8-6 decision over Carolina on Saturday.

Four of those nine victories came by two runs or fewer and, despite the final score, the Dash's latest win was just as close throughout. Staked to a 5-0 lead through 2 1/2 innings, Winston-Salem starter Jon Bachanov surrendered five runs over the next two frames.

Carolina League All-Star Brady Shoemaker broke the 5-5 deadlock with a two-run double in the sixth and added an insurance run with an RBI double two innings later. Dan Black, who opened the scoring with a three-run homer, tacked on the game's final run with his own eighth-inning double.

With just one game left in the season's first half, the Dash are a league-best 43-25. And that's a point of pride for everyone involved.

"This means a lot for our men," Thompson said. "We had to fight and basically play our tails off. Winning nine of 10 was big for us because Salem stayed right on our butts. I'm just really proud of the way this team fights, its character and the way it goes about its business on a daily basis.

"The White Sox, the staff, the players, the coaches, this all means something to us. I know it's about development, but it's about winning, too."

A big part of that winning atmosphere came from an offense that leads the eight-team circuit in batting average (.281), homers (65) and runs scored (382). Salem, the league's No. 2 offense, has scored 344 runs.

Shoemaker buoyed the Dash with a league-leading 53 RBIs to go with a .346 average and 11 homers that rank second and third in the league, respectively.

"Our offense has been tremendous from start to finish," Thompson said. "We certainly finished with a lot of hits here at the end by a lot of different guys. A lot of the credit for that goes to [batting coach] Gary Ward and what he's been teaching our guys."

After Saturday's win, the Dash lived up to their name by racing to the visiting clubhouse to start the celebration. Thompson, meanwhile, left much to the imagination about what precisely followed that sprint.

"I'm going to say we have some young adults on our team," he said. "[The coaching staff] locked the door and we've kind of been celebrating in our own way here. They've worked hard, so they deserve it. With their egos, they're hugging and high-fiving and all that."

Other clinchings:

South Atlantic League
Greensboro 5, Charleston 4

The Grasshoppers held the first-half North Division fate in their own hands and came through. Ryan McIntyre's RBI groundout in the bottom of the sixth broke a tie and eventually gave Greensboro the crown. Marlins' No. 3 prospect Jose Fernandez struck out 11 and allowed four runs on eight hits over a career-high eight innings. James Wooster, Wilfredo Gimenez and McIntyre hit solo homers in the fourth.

Texas League
Tulsa 3, Arkansas 1

The Drillers turned to two of their three All-Star pitchers to claim the first-half North Division title and their first playoff berth since 2007. Rockies' No. 18 prospect Edwar Cabrera allowed an unearned run on three hits and struck out five over eight innings before Coty Woods worked a perfect ninth for his 12th save. No. 15 prospect Josh Rutledge started the contest with a homer and added a sacrifice fly in the third to give the two hurlers the only support they needed.