Braves Bounce Grasshoppers on Bark In The Park Night

ROME, GA – The Rome Braves welcomed furry friends from all over to AdventHealth Stadium tonight for the first Bark In The Park night of 2022. The Braves would send Luis De Avila to the mound in his fourth start of the season and his third at home. Greensboro would send out Jared Jones in hopes to swing the momentum of the series.

De Avila would make quick work of the Grasshoppers in the top of the first, opening the gates for one of the hottest hitting offenses in all of High-A. Cody Milligan would reach, and Drew Campbell would belt his first homer of the season over the batter’s eye in center field, putting the Braves up two runs to none.

Greensboro would strike back in the top of the second on a ground out from Jack Herman that would score Matt Gorski. The Grasshoppers would knot things up at two with a Matt Gorski line drive single in the top of the third.

Tyler Tolve would continue an absurd streak of dominance by walloping his second homer of the season, lifting Rome to a one run lead. Greensboro would answer in the next half inning with homers of their own from Henry Davis Matt Gorski.

Greensboro would carry a three run lead into the bottom of the fifth, only to squander it by misplaying a routine fly ball that would land between the shortstop, center fielder, and second basemen. Both Cody Milligan and Drew Campbell would score on Vaugh Grissom’s bloop hit to center, and on the very next pitch Landon Stephens would rope a ball down the left field line that would bang off the foul pole for his seventh homer of the year. Rome would exit the bottom of the fifth with the score at seven runs to six in their favor.

In the bottom of the sixth, Rome would tack on one more with a wild pitch from Garrett Leonard that scored Beau Philip. The Braves offense would not let up in the late innings, and Beau Philip would be leading the charge with an RBI double that drove in Vaughn Grissom. Vaughn would drive in Rome’s tenth and final run of the night in the eighth innings by hitting into a fielder’s choice.

The Braves pitching staff would flex a little by recording an astounding twenty total strikeouts in the contest. Luis De Avila would go four and one third of an inning, only giving up five runs on five hits with eight total strikeouts.

Jake McSteen would come on in relief and record another solid outing. McSteen would cover one and two thirds of an inning while only giving up one run on one hit with no walks and six strikeouts. McSteen and De Avlia’s lone blemishes would be home runs. Lisandro Santos would relieve McSteen and cover two whole innings. Santos would surrender zero runs on one hit and notch five strikeouts himself.

Austin Smith would slam the door out of the pen once again, giving Rome its twelfth win of the 2022 campaign by a final score of ten to six. Jake McSteen would be credited with his third win of the season, and Lisandro Santos would earn his fourth hold of the season.

With the Rome Braves’ win and the Bowling Green Hot Rods’ loss, the Braves currently sit one game back of first place in the South Atlantic League’s South Division. Rome and Greensboro will tee it up again on Saturday night with a scheduled first pitch at 6:00 pm. Roddery Munoz will get the starting nod for the Braves on Roman Bobblehead Giveaway Night. The first one thousand fans through the gates will receive a bobblehead of the beloved Rome Braves mascot presented by AGC Pediatrics.