Charlotte Knights 3, Nashville Sounds 2 (10 innings)
The Knights staggered out of this one with a 3–2 walk-off in 10, now sitting at 11–12 on the season. Early fireworks included a Dru Baker ejection before the first pitch, then Jarred Kelenic went yard in the bottom of the first for a quick 1-0 lead. Tanner McDougal tossed a scoreless first and mostly muzzled Nashville, minus a blip in the second. The hurler was removed in the top of the fourth, and it’s not exactly clear why.
From there, it was a pure pitcher’s duel with zeroes everywhere and strikeouts piling up with 24 total on the night. Nashville snatched the lead in the seventh, but Ryan Galanie immediately erased it with a game-tying bomb.
Despite some late-inning chaos, including another ejection (Korey Lee), a few blown chances, and a soul-crushing double play in the ninth, the bullpen held, and Mario Camilletti finally punched the ticket with a walk-off single in the 10th.
Columbus Clingstones 13, Birmingham Barons 9
The Birmingham Barons took one on the chin in a game that swung wildly after a promising 1-0 start and a brief midgame surge. Birmingham struck first in the opening inning and then exploded in the fourth for six tallies, using a barrage of hits, including RBI knocks from Adam Fogel, Braden Montgomery, and a two-run blast from Alec Makarewicz, to surge into an 8–5 lead.
Unfortunately, the game flipped quickly as Columbus pounced with massive sixth and seventh innings, feasting on an error, a balk, and eight hits to retake control and break things wide open. Despite the Barons’ continued fight, including a triple by Montgomery and an RBI base hit by Makarewicz, the offense couldn’t overcome the awful pitching.
Hub City Spartanburgers 16, Winston-Salem Dash 2
The Dash got it handed to them in this one. It was every nightmare scenario you can imagine, rolled into two and a half hours. The pitching collapsed early, and before the third inning was over, this thing was wrapped up. A four-run inning in both the first and third put Winston-Salem in a hole they could not dig out of.
The offense managed only two runs on four hits. The first was on a sac fly by Ely Brown in the third, and another tally in the ninth on a couple of walks, a single, and a ground out.
There were strikeouts (10) and ground balls galore ending rallies in between, with the club going 0-for-6 with RISP. Meanwhile, Hub City piled up the walks (seven), induced pitcher fatigue, and had themselves a five-run eighth inning that turned a blowout into embarrassment. The Dash came into tonight riding high at 12-5, but this contest served as a reminder of how fast things can spiral when the pitching is UGLY.
Charleston RiverDogs 10, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 9
The Ballers (5-13) lost in a wild one full of ups and downs and everything in between. Charleston jumped on Kanny early, going up 6–0, but they wouldn’t go down easily. They exploded for five runs in the sixth inning, including Jaden Fauske’s two-run triple and Matthew Boughton’s two-run go-ahead double to take the lead 9–7.
That advantage wouldn’t hold up, however, as Charleston answered right back in the seventh inning on walks and wild pitches to tie it up 9-9.
A solo shot off reliever Ryan Schiefer in the eighth was the difference-maker. The Ballers did manage some eighth-inning traffic with back-to-back walks, but stranded everyone. They demonstrated plenty of fight at the plate, but the usual suspects — walks (six), errors (two), and erratic pitching — did them in.
