Spartanburgers Comeback Falls Short in Rome

ROME, Ga. — With three weeks remaining in the regular season, Hub City hit the road to Rome for a seven-game series. In the opener Tuesday night, the Emperors (21-26, 54-57) took down the Spartanburgers (18-30, 52-62) 5-4 despite Hub City outhitting Rome by three.

The Spartanburgers could not cash in on a pair of two-out hits in the first off Luke Sinnard. Ismael Agreda (L, 3-7) answered with a scoreless inning of his own. After the ‘Burgers went down in order in the second, the Emperors took the lead. Agreda walked the first batter of the inning and hit the second. With one out, Colby Jones singled in the first run. Colin Burgess doubled the lead with a base hit, but Jones was retired on the play in a rundown between third and the plate. Carter Beck whacked a third straight single to bring in Burgess and make it 3-0 Rome.

Casey Cook and Luke Hanson both tabbed two-out hits in the third. The ‘Burgers loaded the bases but failed to score. Hub City finally scratched the scoreboard in the fourth. Quincy Scott led off the inning with a walk. He worked his way to third with two outs, and Chandler Pollard brought him in. Sinnard finished off the fourth to end his day.

Agreda bounced back with a couple of zeros in the third and the fourth. Rome tacked on in the fifth. With one on and one out, Dixon Williams hit an inside-the-park home run. On a fly ball to the wall in right, Scott banged into the wall and did not come up with the catch. He remained down on the play and left the game due to injury.

Agreda finished the fifth and got one out in the sixth before handing the baseball over to Anthony Susac. Rome went with Jacob Kroeger (W, 3-2) on the mound beginning in the fifth. The lefty reliever retired all nine batters he faced, exiting after the seventh. Susac matched him with five outs of scoreless baseball himself.

Trailing 5-1 in the eighth, the Spartanburgers took advantage of control issues from Tanner Bauman. Two of the first three batters in the inning walked. With one out, Antonis Macias hooked a triple to the right field corner to score two. Esteban Mejia then brought Macias home with a single to left.

Case Matter used a double play to face the minimum in the bottom of the eighth, so the Spartanburgers hit the ninth trailing by just a lone run. Logan Samuels came in searching for the save. With one out, Paxton Kling singled and stole second base. Samuels (S, 1) worked a flyout from Cook and a groundout from Hanson to strand Kling and win the game.

The Spartanburgers and Emperors will meet on Wednesday for a doubleheader, completing a makeup from the August 2nd rainout at Fifth Third Park. Both games will be seven innings, and first pitch in game one is slated for 5:00 p.m. ET. Game two will follow the conclusion of game one with approximately 45 minutes in between games.

About the Hub City Spartanburgers

The Hub City Spartanburgers are the High-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers and the reigning South Atlantic League South Division Champions. For more information on the Spartanburgers, visit milb.com/hub-city. For information about tickets to any of Hub City’s 66 home games, call 864-594-0701 or email: [email protected]. For media inquiries, email: [email protected]. Follow along with the Spartanburgers on social media.