Braves end homestand on high note
♦ Rome’s bats come through to support strong pitching in win over Crawdads
After a tough series over the past few days vs. Hickory, the Rome Braves ended their six-game homestand on a positive note on Sunday afternoon with 7-1 victory at Adventhealth Stadium.
Rome (37-32), which had lost four of the first five games in the series to the visiting Crawdads (40-29), grabbed the momentum in the game Sunday with a four-run fifth and leaned on its strong pitching to hold on from there. The bats weren’t done yet after the strong fifth as they added three insurance runs for good measure in the bottom of the eighth.
Leading the charge at the plate for the Braves was Willie Carter with a 2-for-4 day that included a two-run homer and three RBIS total. Vaughn Grissom added a double and two RBIS, Tyler Tolve had an Rbi-double, Landon Stephens tripled and scored a run, Jacob Pearson doubled and scored a run and Christian Robinson contributed a hit and an RBI.
On the mound starter Roddery Munoz went five shutout innings to earn the win and improve to 3-3 on the season as he allowed only four hits and struck out five.
Davis Schwab came on in relief and pitched 2 1/3 innings and allowed one run on two hits while striking out one and walking two, and Ben Dum earned his third save of the year with a 1 2/3 innings effort as he allowed no runs on one hit and walked one.
After a day off on Monday, Rome will head back on the road this week as they open a six-game series at Greenville on Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m.
In Saturday night’s contest between Rome and Hickory:
Hickory 9, Rome 5
Rome took a 3-1 lead into the ninth on Saturday, but Hickory exploded for eight runs in the final inning to rally for a 9-5 victory.
The Braves scored single runs in the first, third and seventh innings to take the lead but couldn’t hold off the late rally from the visiting Crawdads. Rome scored two in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t get any closer.
Justyn-henry Malloy was the top hitter in the loss for the Braves as he went a perfect 4-for-4 with a double, a stolen base and two RBIS. Javier Valdes added an Rbi-double, Stephens had a hit and an RBI, Beau Philip drove in one run and Jacob Pearson contributed a hit, two stolen bases and scored two runs. Grissom also had a hit, a stolen base and scored a run.
Luis De Avila had a strong start for Rome as he went five innings and gave up just one run on one hit while striking out nine and walking four but got a no decision after Hickory’s late comeback. Dylan Spain followed with two scoreless innings in relief and struck out two, and RJ Freure also tossed a scoreless inning of relief as he struck out one and walked two.
The trouble came in the ninth as Austin Smith had a rough outing in which he didn’t record an out while giving up five runs on three hits and walking two as he took the loss. Jake Mcsteen followed and allowed three runs on three hits while striking out two and walking one in one inning of work.