HiToms top Copperheads 5-3:Daniel Frey on the CPL Trail

HiToms top Copperheads 5-3
from Daniel Frey with HiToms Baseball

High Point/Thomasville, N.C.– It wasn’t pretty but the High Point-Thomasville HiToms (27-20) held off the Asheboro Copperheads (26-21) 5-3 on Friday evening.

The HiToms jumped on the Asheboro starting pitcher Bradley Hallman (2-4) early including a two-run blast over the right field wall by Hunter Slater to draw first blood in the bottom of the first inning.

Hallman recovered over the next three innings putting the pressure back on the HiToms starter Austin Reich who let go a wild pitch that brought in the first Asheboro run in the top of the fourth.

Not long after, the HiToms run manufacturing company went to work. An RBI looping single by David Sheaffer followed by a Danny Sullivan walk with the bases loaded scored a couple. In the same bottom of the fifth, David Fry continued to bring in runs on an RBI sac-fly to left field extending the HiToms lead out to 5-1.

Since coming in to pitch with nobody out in the fifth, Ryan Owens (2-0) set down the first 11 Copperhead batters that he faced but a two-out walk led to an RBI double by Colin Rosenbaum keeping Asheboro’s hopes alive. Logan Welch was summoned for his fourth save of the season and he struck out Vito Friscia to end the top of the eighth.

The HiToms left two men in scoring position in the bottom of the eighth as Welch looked to slam the door.
An error by David Fry and a hit by pitch put two Copperheads on with nobody out in the ninth. Ryan Colombo drove in a run on a sac-fly to centerfield but Welch bounced back to seal off a 5-3 HiToms win with a playoff push in their sights.

The HiToms visit Gastonia tomorrow, July 30 for a 7:17 first pitch against the Grizzlies.