Escobar’s Career-High Five Hits Help Threshers to Victory

WP: Ryan Dromboski (5-0, 1.83)

LP: Josh Randall (1-3, 5.46)

BOX SCORE

CLEARWATER, FL – Aroon Escobar smacked five hits and drove in two runs, falling a triple short of the cycle as the Clearwater Threshers (20-18) dominated the Lakeland Flying Tigers (21-16) in an 8-1 win on Saturday night at BayCare Ballpark. Clearwater looks to finish the series on a high note in the Sunday afternoon finale.

Clearwater struck first thanks to a leadoff home run from Escobar that opened the scoring in favor of the Threshers. Carter Mathison continued the scoring with a one-out triple in the bottom of the second inning, scoring in the next at-bat on a single from Guillermo Rosario that doubled the Threshers’ lead.

The Threshers got two hits on the first two pitches of the bottom of the fifth, with singles from Diego González and Avery Owusu-Asiedu starting the frame. Escobar singled to load the bases before Lakeland’s starter Josh Randall allowed González to score on a balk. Dante Nori followed with a sacrifice fly to centerfield, scoring Owusu-Asiedu from third to make it 4-0.

Lakeland got on the board on a wild pitch, scoring their first run in the top of the sixth to cut Clearwater’s advantage to four runs. González began the Threshers response after he got hit by a pitch from Lakeland reliever Chris Williams. He scored from first on an RBI double by Escobar to bring Clearwater’s lead back to five runs. The next batter, Nori, singled up the middle to score Escobar and give the Threshers a six-run advantage.

Rosario smacked a one-out single to start the seventh and moved to third on a one-out single by González off Lakeland reliever Ronny Chalas. Owusu-Asiedu followed with a deep fly ball to centerfield, allowing Rosario to score from third on the sacrifice fly and hand the Threshers a seven-run lead. Clearwater sealed the win with a 1-2-3 ninth inning to take an 8-1 victory over the Flying Tigers.

Ryan Dromboski tossed 5.1 innings with one run allowed on three hits, one walk, and nine strikeouts. Jake Eddington walked two and struck out one in 2.2 scoreless and hitless innings. Kevin Warunek struck out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth.

Escobar has two leadoff home runs this season in the first inning...He recorded his first-ever five-hit game...It was the first five-hit game by a Thresher since Trent Farquhar had five knocks against St. Lucie last year...Dromboski set a new career-high with nine strikeouts...His nine punch outs are the most in a game by any Threshers pitcher so far this year...Rosario recorded his first multi-hit game of 2025...The Threshers return home to BayCare Ballpark on Sunday, May 18, to conclude a six-game home series against the Lakeland Flying Tigers...First pitch on Sunday will be at 12:00 pm...You can purchase Threshers tickets at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457…The Box Office at BayCare Ballpark is also open daily to purchase tickets…The hours are 10 AM-5 PM Monday through Friday and 10 AM-3 PM on Saturdays.