Burlington Rolling, Wins Fourth Straight

Burlington, NC- The Royals won their fourth straight game on Saturday night, defeating the Bristol White Sox, 3-2 at Burlington Athletic Stadium in front of a crowd of 1,860. Cory Hall blew the save, but came away with the win, while Tim Kiley takes the loss. Nick Graffeo pitched the ninth for the Royals to record the save. It is the second one-run win in two nights for Burlington, who is now 7-12, while Bristol falls to 8-11.

The Royals opened the scoring in their first at bat with four straight singles, and RBI's from Michael Antonio and Murray Watts. The game would remain scoreless until the top of the fifth, when Bristol would cut the deficit in half. Jordan Keegan scored on a fielder's choice to make it 2-1. Two innings later, the White Sox would tie the game on an RBI double from Grant Buckner, scoring Keegan again.

In the bottom half of the seventh inning, with Kenney Swab on first, Jovan Pickett would double into the left field corner to put the go-ahead run 90 feet away. The next batter, Justin Trapp, would fly out to center, but deep enough for Swab to tag from third and score to put the Royals on top, 3-2. With two outs in the top of the eighth, the White Sox had the tying run on second, and brought in Brad Salgado to pinch run, but could not capitalize. In the ninth, Graffeo entered the game, protecting a one-run lead facing the top of the Bristol lineup. He struck out all three batters he faced, two looking, to earn his second save, and the seventh win of the season for the Royals.

Keegan went 1-for-2, and scored both runs in the losing effort, while Michael Johnson, and Michael Marjama each went 2-for-4. Kevan Smith, with the fourth highest batting average in the Appalachian league, went hitless in four tries, and left a game-high five runners on base. Bristol went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 men on base.

Watts and Jovan Pickett each went 2-for-3, while Cam Connor recorded two hits in four tries. Jorge Bonifacio had a hit to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, second highest in the league this season.

Bristol used four pitchers, with the starter, Darwin Matos, going five innings, and allowing two runs on five hits, while striking out eight, and fanned the side in the third inning. Todd Kibby, Kiley, and Brent Merkley each tossed an inning in relief, with Kiley giving up one run on three hits for the loss.

Angel Baez had his best start of the season, tossing five innings, surrendering five hits, one run, and striking out five. Cory Hall went three innings, allowing one run on three hits, and retiring four via strikeout. Graffeo struck out the side in the ninth for his second save, and the 3-2 Burlington win.

The Royals host the White Sox in the third, and final, game of the series tomorrow night at home, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:00. Tickets are available by calling (336) 222-0223.