The Winston-Salem Dash are headed to the South Atlantic League Championship Series!
Facing a Bowling Green club that finished with the fourth-best record among all 120 full-season minor league teams, the Dash completed a stunning two-game sweep with a 4-1 victory to capture the South Atlantic League Southern Division championship.
The Hot Rods, a Tampa Bay Rays affiliate, went 82-48 during the regular season, compared with Winston-Salem’s 73-58 mark. None of that mattered once the postseason began.
The Dash took down the league’s Southern Division giant behind magnificent performances from Grant Umberger and Jake Curtis, who combined to allow only three hits while striking out 15.
Umberger was nearly untouchable from the opening pitch. After making 22 starts and 26 appearances during the regular season, going 11-7 with a 4.70 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over 120 2/3 innings, the southpaw saved his finest work for the biggest game of the year.
He retired the side in order in each of the first three innings, sending down the first nine Hot Rods he faced. Bowling Green finally broke up the perfect-game bid with a leadoff single in the fourth, but Umberger responded by striking out the next three batters. He faced the minimum again in both the fifth and sixth, giving the Dash offense plenty of time to build him a lead.
Winston-Salem threatened immediately in the first. Javier Mogollón worked a one-out walk, and James Taussig drew another free pass with two outs, but Jeral Perez flew out to end the inning.
The Dash broke through one frame later. Nick McLain led off the second with a single, and Braden Holcomb chopped a ball high off the dirt toward third for an infield hit, putting two aboard with nobody out. Rylan Galvin’s bunt attempt popped up in foul territory, and Kaleb Freeman went down looking, leaving the rally in danger of going to waste.
Ely Brown made sure it didn’t.
Brown lined a two-out single to score McLain, and Mogollón followed with a two-run “triple” that came with a little help from the night sky. Bowling Green’s center fielder lost the ball, threw his hands in the air and watched it drop in left field as two more runs raced home. However it looked in the scorebook, the Dash had themselves a 3-0 advantage.
James Taussig added some legitimate thunder in the third, launching his 26th home run of the season to right-center and stretching the lead to 4-0. His regular-season power officially carried over into whatever the minor league equivalent of October baseball is in September.
That was all the offense Winston-Salem could muster, but it was also all Umberger and Curtis needed. Dominic Fritton entered for Bowling Green in the fourth and retired nine straight Dash hitters before Mogollón ended the run with a two-out single in the seventh. Winston-Salem managed only that hit and a walk from the fourth inning on.
Bowling Green finally scratched Umberger for a one-out solo homer in the seventh. A single followed, prompting skipper Guillermo Quiroz to call on Curtis with the tying run still safely tucked away in the on-deck circle. The righthander certainly got the job done.
Curtis finished the seventh with a strikeout and a fly out, then retired all six batters he faced over the final two innings. His flawless relief appearance preserved Umberger’s gem and finished off the biggest victory of the Dash’s season.
Umberger’s final line was spectacular: 6 1/3 innings, one run, three hits, no walks and 11 strikeouts. The 11 punchouts were a season high and matched the career high he established on May 22, 2025.
Now crowned champions of the Southern Division, the Dash will face either the Greensboro Grasshoppers or Frederick Keys in the South Atlantic League Championship Series on Sunday, Sept. 13 at 1:00 p.m. CT.
The underdogs aren’t done dancing yet.
MVP
Grant Umberger: 6 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 11 K, W
Runners-Up
Jake Curtis: 2 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, S
James Taussig: 1-for-2, R, RBI, 2 BB, HR, K
Ely Brown: 1-for-4, R, RBI, K
Javier Mogollón: 2-for-3, 2 RBI, BB, 3B, SB
Cold Cat
Kyle Lodise: 0-for-4, 3 K
Runners-Up
Jeral Perez: 0-for-4, 2 K
Rylan Galvan: 0-for-4, K
Kaleb Freeman: 0-for-4, 2 K
