Lusignan has career night for Grasshoppers

Colby Lusignan's most productive day as a professional baseball player began with a recent pregame chat.
Mired in a 3-for-22 skid over his last six games, the Marlins prospect sat down with manager Todd Pratt and hitting coach Frank Moore before taking the field for Class A Greensboro on Thursday.

"I got with our hitting coach and manager after our last series [against Greenville] and just talked to them," he said. "There wasn't so much physical changes that I needed to make. It was just having the mindset to go into the box, stay relaxed and have confidence in my game and my abilities."
The advice culminated in Lusignan's first 5-for-5 performance as a pro as he doubled twice and drove in three runs in the Grasshoppers' 7-4 win over Asheville on Saturday at McCormick Field.
Box score
Batting fourth, Lusignan took advantage of an opportunity with the bases loaded in the first inning by lacing a double to center field that plated two runs to open the scoring.
"Being the cleanup guy, I'm just up there trying to do some damage," the 24-year-old said. "At the very least, I wanted to get at least one guy in and obviously, every time I go up to the plate, I'm trying to find the barrel. I was just looking for something that I could hit."
Despite entering the game with a .150 average (3-for-20) against left-handers this season, Lusignan singled to left in the third and doubled to left in the fifth off southpaw Ty Culbreth (1-1). 
The 2016 28th-round pick added an RBI single up the middle in the sixth off Ryan Luna before capping his night with a leadoff single to right off Kenny Oakley in the ninth.
"I just really tried to focus on letting the ball get deep tonight and really make sure I was picking it up out of [the pitcher's] hand," Lusignan said.
The Lander University product struggled to recall a more dominant performance in his baseball career.
"I think in college I had a few 4-for-4's. I don't know about 5-for-5's," he said. "Obviously, it's pretty cool to go out there and perform like that, especially in a game like baseball, where it's so up and down. To go out there and perform to the best of your ability is always an awesome time."

Batting behind Lusignan, Eric Gutierrez finished 3-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs. Leadoff hitter Andrew Knapp had a double among two hits, scored two runs and swiped his team-leading 12th stolen base.
Grasshoppers starter LJ Brewster (2-2) benefited from the support, yielding two runs on eight hits while walking one and fanning three over six innings.
Culbreth surrendered six runs -- three earned -- on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts over 4 1/3 frames.