Tourists Even Series With Big Fourth Inning to Beat Dash 7-4

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (May 18, 2022) — The Asheville Tourists put up four runs in the fifth inning, then extended their lead late to beat Winston-Salem 7-4.

Duke Ellis helped manufacture a run in the bottom of the first for the Winston-Salem Warthogs. He singled to right field, then stole second base to move into scoring position. From there, Bryan Ramos dunked in a softly hit single to score Ellis and give the Warthogs an early 1-0 edge.

Asheville was unable to get a run across through four innings, against Jordan Mikel. The right-hander fanned four hitters into the fifth inning, but ran into some trouble there.

It started when Luis Santana golfed the first pitch of the inning over the wall in left field, to knot up the game at 1-1. Mikel then walked the next two hitters, induced a fly out, before allowing a single to load the bases and prompt a call to the bullpen.

Ty Madrigal entered in a bases loaded, one out jam to face Colin Barber. Barber worked an RBI walk, then Nerio Rodriguez knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly to center field. After Rodriguez, Zach Daniels plated two runs on a single to right to give the Tourists a 4-1 lead after four and a half innings.

The Warthogs got a run back in the bottom of the frame, thanks to a Moises Castillo RBI knock to bring in Duke Ellis.

On to the sixth, where Winston-Salem started putting together some base hits. First, Luis Mieses doubled to the wall in right field. Then, Adam Hackenberg​​ reached on an infield single that moved Mieses over to third. Tyler Osik stepped in, and he was able to plate Mieses with a sacrifice fly to cut the Asheville lead to 4-3.

Asheville responded with more offense in the eighth inning.

Christian Gonzalez gave the Tourists a 5-3 advantage with an RBI single. Then in the ninth inning, Asheville added two more runs on base hits from CJ Stubbs and Luis Santana.

Oscar Colas launched a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth, but that was all Winston-Salem could muster as they fell 7-4. Heitor Tokar nabbed the win for Asheville, and Jordan Mikel was handed the loss for the Warthogs.

Luis Moncada will take the ball in game three for Winston-Salem, against Ernesto Jaquez for Asheville.