Bats, Stripers Split Doubleheader To Open Series

The Louisville Bats split the doubleheader on Wednesday night against the Gwinnett Stripers, coming away with a 4-2 victory in the opener, while being shut out 6-0 against the Stripers at Gwinnett Field. Both teams battled slow offensive struggles through the early innings, but late performances from both squads keeps the series even into Thursday.

The Bats were looking to start the series strong at Gwinnett Field on Tuesday night against the Stripers after a series win against the I-Cubs last week. Louisville worked three walks through the first two innings but couldn’t cash in on the early traffic and remained scoreless.

Bats starter Julian Garcia was hot and ready early to back the offense. The righty struck out the first four batters he faced, with a little help from Will Banfield’s ABS challenge on the final punchout. He allowed just one hit and struck out five over two scoreless innings of work.

In the third, the Bats had another opportunity to score after TJ Friedl walked to lead off the inning. He stole second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch, but Michael Toglia popped out to end the inning and strand Friedl.

Hagan Danner quickly found himself in a predicament in the bottom of the third. He allowed a one-out triple and a walk, which brought Brett Wisley to the plate. The second baseman squared around and bunted the ball just down the hill of Danner, who quickly composed himself, caught the ball, and tossed it to Toglia covering first for the double play. The tarp was placed onto the field immediately following the play, and the rain washed the game away on Tuesday night.

The game resumed in the early evening on Wednesday, and the Bats quickly went down 1-2-3 in the fourth against the new Stripers' hand, Drue Hackenberg. Danner returned to the bump for the Bats and gave up a double, but worked another scoreless inning.

Despite a Friedl double, the Bats remained hitless until the seventh inning since the return, yet still could not cross a run. Zach McCambley took over for the Bats in the fifth and tossed three scoreless innings with four strikeouts to keep the game deadlocked.

It took all nine innings, but the Bats finally scored their first run of the game. Hector Rodriguez doubled, but was caught stealing at second for the first out. Nevertheless, consecutive doubles by the Michaels, Michael Toglia and Michael Chavis, gave Louisville their first lead. Hackenberg was replaced by Rolddy Munoz, who gave up an RBI single to Banfield, giving the Bats a 2-0 lead heading into the final frame.

But just as fast as the Bats gained the lead, the Stripers came right back even quicker with a response of their own. With Hunter Parks (W, 1-0) on the mound for Louisville, a two-run blast by Tristin English tied the game back up at two runs apiece. Parks worked three outs before Gwinnett could tack on any more damage.

A ground out by Friedl and a fielder’s choice by Urbaez gave the Bats their advantage back in the top of the tenth, and Toglia added to it with an RBI single. With a 4-2 lead intact, Connor Phillips (SV, 2) delivered the save with three strikeouts, despite walking two batters to load the bases.

Toglia and Chavis each recorded multi-hit performances with an RBI each, while Phillips earned his second consecutive save.

Julian Aguiar (L, 1-2) made the start for the Bats in game two and held down the fort for the Bats. He limited the Stripers to just one hit through the first four innings, all while keeping his pitch count low as well.

Outside of the first inning, Louisville had runners on base in each inning with multiple chances to score, but came up empty each time. Their best opportunity came in the fifth, when Ivan Johnson and Chavis both reached scoring position with one out. However, Dayne Leonard and Dominic Pitelli were both retired on strikes and left the frame scoreless.

Aguiar began the fourth with more of the same, retiring the first batter he faced via strikeout. The scoreless outing didn’t last too much longer, though. English knocked a single up the middle to put a man on, and Adam Zebrowski took one deep to left field to hand the Stripers a 2-0 lead.

The damage didn’t stop there, as Gwinnett notched consecutive doubles after a strikeout to plate another run against the Bats and officially end Aguiar’s night. Trevor Kuncl induced a pop fly to get the Bats out of the bottom half and finish Aguiar’s line at 4.2 innings, where he gave up three runs on five hits with four strikeouts.

Gwinnett continued to add to their lead in the sixth off of Kuncl, gathering three runs on an RBI single and a two-run home run from Cal Conley before a pop-out ended the inning and solidified the 6-0 lead for the Stripers. Pitelli reached base with a walk with two outs, but the Bats went down quickly to drop the second game of the day.

Urbaez and Johnson recorded the lone hits of the second game for the Bats, while the Bats split a doubleheader for the third time in their fifth overall in the season.

The Bats will continue their series against Gwinnett on Thursday night, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. ET at Gwinnett Field. Davis Daniel (5-5, 4.57) is scheduled to make the start against Stripers' Garrett Baumann (1-0, 1.80). Nick Curran will have the call on Sports Talk 790.