Dash Erupt in Championship Opener, Take 1-0 Series Lead
Twenty-three years after Winston-Salem last celebrated a league championship, the Dash took their first step toward another one. The Winston-Salem Dash (1-0) erupted for eight runs in the second inning and piled up 15 overall to defeat the Greensboro Grasshoppers (0-1), 15-8, in Game 1 of the South Atlantic League
Twenty-three years after Winston-Salem last celebrated a league championship, the Dash took their first step toward another one.
The Winston-Salem Dash (1-0) erupted for eight runs in the second inning and piled up 15 overall to defeat the Greensboro Grasshoppers (0-1), 15-8, in Game 1 of the South Atlantic League Championship Series on Sunday afternoon at Truist Stadium.
The victory gave Winston-Salem a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three championship series and marked the franchise’s first win in a league championship game since its last appearance in 2012.
Before Sunday, Winston-Salem had not reached a league championship series in 14 years. The Dash fell in the Carolina League Finals in both 2010 and 2012, and the city’s last championship came in 2003, when the Winston-Salem Warthogs swept Lynchburg to capture the Carolina League title.
The Dash wasted little time making their return count.
Winston-Salem grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Javier Mogollon reached and later scored on a Greensboro error.
Then came the avalanche.
The Dash sent 11 hitters to the plate in the second inning and scored eight times. Ely Brown opened the scoring with a two-run single before Mogollon launched a three-run home run to right field. Later in the frame, Nick McLain added another three-run homer, stretching the advantage to 9-0.
Greensboro refused to disappear.
The Grasshoppers answered with five runs in the third, highlighted by a three-run double from Axiel Plaz and a two-run single from Tony Blanco Jr., trimming the deficit to 9-5.
Winston-Salem responded immediately.
Kaleb Freeman singled and eventually scored on an RBI knock from Derek Cerda in the bottom of the third to restore a five-run cushion.
Greensboro continued to chip away, scoring once in the fourth and again in the fifth to make it 10-7.
But every time the Grasshoppers threatened, the Dash found another answer.
Winston-Salem plated three runs in the sixth. Jeral Perez lifted a sacrifice fly before Braden Holcomb drove home another run on a groundout. A wild pitch later scored James Taussig, pushing the lead to 13-7.
After Greensboro scored again in the seventh, the Dash added two more in the bottom half behind a bases-loaded walk to Kyle Lodise and a balk that brought Cerda home.
The bullpen handled the rest.
Jake Curtis earned the victory after escaping a bases-loaded jam in the fifth and working through the sixth, while Jesus Mendez, Trey Cooper, and Jarold Rosado combined to close out the final three innings.
Mogollon and McLain each homered and drove in three runs, while Brown added two RBIs as Winston-Salem collected 11 hits and took control of the championship series.
For a franchise that has waited since 2012 just to get back to this stage — and since the Warthogs’ 2003 title to finish the job — Game 1 was exactly the start Winston-Salem wanted.