Updated July 06 2017
Asheboro jumped on Lexingotn County for 12 runs in the first two innings Thursday night, but wound up having to hold on for dear life in the ninth to preserve a 12-9 win over the visiting Blowfish.
The Copperheads scored seven times in the first inning and added five more in the second, but the Blowfish chipped away at their big deficit and when they scored a run and had the bases loaded with nobody out in the top of the ninth Asheboro fans begin to get nervous. But the Copperheads called on Nathan Fox (Gardner-Webb) out of the bullpen and he fanned three straight Blowfish batters swinging to end the game. Fox, who started the game as the DH, was also one of the heroes for Asheboro offensively as he belted a three-run homer in a seven-run first inning explosion.
The win evened Asheboro second-half record at 2-2 and improved their overall record to 13-19. Lexington County is now 1-3, 10-21.
The first five Copperheads who batted in the first hit safely, three of the hits being consecutive doubles by Derek Perry (Pfeiffer), Clark Brinkman (Creighton( and Kyle Smith (Catawba). The Snakes would add three more hits in the inning, the biggest being Fox’s three-run blast to left that left the park in a hurry.
The Blowfish scored a pair in the top of the second, but Asheboro quickly put up five more in the bottom of the inning. Brinkman led off the inning with his second double of the game and scored on a single by Smith. Then, Vito Friscia (Hofstra) followed with his seventh homer of the season to make it 10-2. Newcomer Forest Kimbrell (NC A&T) chased home another run with an RBI single and the 12th tally came in on an infield grounder by Perry. At the end of the inning, Asheboro had already pounded out 14 hits, but they would only get two more the rest of the night,
Righthander Nick Rathke (SE Louisana) got his first inning of the season by working seven inning, even though he gave up eight runs, including three home runs. The Blowfish got homers from Dominic Cuoci (St. Joseph’s), Drew Ellis (Mt. Olive) and Zach Spivey (Bethune-Cookman). Jonah Owenby (NC A&T) pitched a scoreless eighth for Asheboro, but when he couldn’t find the plate in the ninth and walked in a run, Fox got the call and saved the day for the Copperheads with three straight Ks to end the game.
Smith and Friscia had three hits each for Asheboro and Brinkman’s two doubles gave him 21 hits in the last nine days. Jeremy Simpson (Catawba) and Connor Lind (Northwestern) also had two hits each for Asheboro, which will travel to Forest City Friday night and return home to play Gastonia on Saturday night before breaking for the CPL All-Star game.