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August 2nd, 2024
Zebulon, NC- The Carolina Mudcats (18-15) played host to the Charleston RiverDogs (20-12) in a Friday evening contest at Five County Stadium. The Mudcats entered tonight 2.5 games back of the Fredericksburg Nationals (22-12) in the second half standing. The RiverDogs sent Trevor Harrison (0-0) to the mound who had a 5.84 ERA in 12.1 innings pitched entering tonight. The Mudcats sent Josh Knoth (3-5) to the mound who had a 3.95 ERA in 66 innings pitched entering tonight.
Charleston got onto the scoreboard in the top of the second when a Carlos Colmenarez single scored Enderson Delgado which gave Charleston a 1-0 lead. Then a Jose Perez single scored Raudelis Martinez which increased Charleston’s lead to 2-0. In the bottom half, the Mudcats left 2 runners in scoring position. Charleston added to the lead in the top of the 3rd when Jhon Diaz scored on a Enderson Delgado double which increased the lead to 3-0. Then, a 2 run home run to right field by J.D. Gonzalez increased the lead to 5-0.
Trevor Harrison pitched 4.2 scoreless innings where he only allowed 5 hits. Then, Dalton Fowler threw 2.1 scoreless innings where he only allowed 1 hit.
The Mudcats found the scoreboard in the bottom of the 8th with a no doubt 2 run home run by Eric Bitonti which cut the deficit to 5-2. The Mudcats started a rally in the 9th when Blayberg Diaz scored on a double by Josh Adamczewski which cut the lead to 5-3. Then Eric Bitonti crushed a two run home run to right which tied the game at 5-5. The Mudcats left the bases loaded to end the bottom of the 9th.
Anthony Flores pitched 5 scoreless innings where he only allowed 1 walk.
Charleston stranded the ghost runner at 3rd base in the top of 10th. Miguel Briceno would get picked off to start the bottom half of the inning as the Mudcats would come up empty. Charleston was able to score their ghost runner on an error by Daniel Guilarte which gave them a 6-5 lead. The Mudcats rally fell short as they stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th.
Luis Hernandez received the win for Charleston with his 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball. Anfernny Reyes received the loss for his two inning performance where he gave up the winning run. Eric Bitonti had his first and second home run with the Mudcats tonight. The series continues tomorrow at 5:00pm at Five County Stadium in Zebulon.
Manager Stanley spoke with the media after the game. When asked about the importance of Eric Bitonti’s 2 home runs Manager Stanley said:
“I mean, huge. I mean, he got us on board and then tied the game. I mean, it doesn’t get bigger than that. And, you know, he’s a guy that can do that. So it’s like, you know, that last at bat, you know, everyone’s kind of waiting, but wasn’t meant to be but two homers. You know he has come here and performed well, so we’re excited.”
When asked about the performance of Anthony Flores Manager Stanley said: “Yeah. I mean, that was the key to the game for me. He gets the five runs early, and you just keep them right there, you know, and give us a chance. And the way he did it, the efficiency, really incredible.”
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