Game One
Parker Smith needed a clean game. Sunday afternoon in the opener of a doubleheader, he got one.
The right-hander was dominant across 5.2 innings, holding Frederick to just four hits and no runs while striking out four. Max Martin followed with 1.1 scoreless innings to complete the shutout, just the second time all season (regardless of innings) Asheville has allowed four or fewer hits in a game. The Tourists won 6-0 to snap a seven-game losing streak and get on the board in the series.
Xavier Neyens got things started immediately, launching a home run to center field on his way to back-to-back games with a long ball, his sixth for Asheville and fourth home run in the last ten days. 1-0 Tourists.
The third inning put the game away. DJ Newman singled to score Kenni Gomez. Anthony Huezo followed with a sharp two-run double to right to score both Newman and Neyens. 4-0. Then, Nick Monistere doubled to left to score Huezo and Jack Moss and push it to 6-0. Four runs, three extra-base hits, a dominant inning.
Smith cruised from there, never allowing Frederick to threaten and giving the offense a clean afternoon. The six runs were more than enough.
Asheville spread its eight hits across seven different players. John Garcia was the only Tourist with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3.
Game two of the doubleheader begins at 4:40 p.m. Dylan Howard takes the ball for Asheville.
Game Two
Dylan Howard gave the Tourists every chance to steal a second win Sunday afternoon. Five innings, three hits, six strikeouts, and a 2-1 game heading into the sixth. What happened after that was a different story.
Frederick pulled away with five runs in the sixth inning and held on for a 7-2 win, taking the series five games to one and ending the final road trip of the Tourists' season.
Howard was excellent through five innings, allowing just two runs on three hits while striking out six. The game was still within reach at 2-1 heading into the sixth. Then Anthony Cruz came on and couldn't get out of the inning, allowing five runs in two thirds of an inning on two hits and three walks. A Jordan Sanchez two-run single and a DJ Layton three-run home run did most of the damage, pushing the lead to 7-1 before the Tourists could respond.
The Tourists managed just four hits all game. Three of them belonged to Anthony Huezo, who went 3-for-4 with his eighth home run for Asheville in the seventh, his 22nd overall, further cementing his place in the 20-40 club. The rest of the Tourists combined to go 1-for-21 with nine strikeouts. Jaydn Fielder's double in the second was his first hit as a Tourist and the only other contribution at the plate.
Asheville's lone run before Huezo's homer came on a wild pitch in the sixth that scored Huezo on a Nick Monistere strikeout. The pitch in the dirt allowed Huezo to race home to make it 1-2. Monistere reached on the strikeout.
Frederick won the series five games to one, handing Asheville back to back series losses.
The Tourists come home Tuesday for the final series of the 2026 season, a six-game homestand against the Greensboro Grasshoppers starting September 1st at HomeTrust Park.