Media release from the Rome Emperors:
On a day where the ball where was jumping off the bat, Rome will head to Greenville winners of six out of the last seven.
The Emperors and Tourists teed it up for fourteen innings of baseball on Sunday morning, and Rome skipper Cody Gabella would hand the ball to Atlanta’s No.17 overall prospect Adam Maier.
Maier, making his first start within the confines of AdventHealth Stadium, held Houston’s High-A affiliate scoreless in his outing on Sunday. Despite matching his career high in walks, the University of Oregon product would notch three strikeouts over five shutout innings.
Maier’s run support would come early and often in the first contest of Sunday’s twin-bill, as the Emperors would score in all but three frames of the contest. Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. lead off Sunday’s game with a single, and followed up with two consecutive stolen bases (43,44), allowing him to score easily on a Jace Grady sacrifice fly Entering Sunday’s double-header, Rome was 40-16 when they scored first.
Kilpatrick Jr. would be joined in the hit column by EJ Exposito, Joe Olsavsky, and Jacob Godman.
Shay Schanaman and Ryan Bourassa would be the two arms out of the Emperor ‘pen on Sunday, covering the next to frames and surrendering just one run.
The four run to one win in game one of the day would be Rome’s fifty-fifth of the season, and their twentieth of the second half. Adam Maier is credited with his first High-A win.
In game two of the day, it would be Asheville who scored first. However, the hot-hitting Emperors would plate four unanswered runs in the home half of the fourth inning. The back and forth would begin here, as the Tourists would not go quietly, scoring four runs in the top of the fifth.
Rome would get one back in the home half of that fifth inning, then ultimately take the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. But baseball is nothing without late inning theatrics, as a two-run blast from Asheville’s Garret Guillemette would knot the score at seven runs each.
After failing to plate a run in the home half of the seventh, the Emperors would not dally in the extra frame. After loading the bases, a wild pitch would allow pinch runner Stephen Paolini to score the game’s winning run with ease.
The the series from Asheville five games to six, and are now winners of six of their last seven. They’ll pack the bus and trek to the Palmetto State for their last series of the season against the Greenville Drive. The Drive currently sits just four games back of the top spot in the South Atlantic League’s South Division.
The series is set to kickoff on Tuesday with a 7:00pm first pitch.
