Greensboro, North Carolina – Carlos Colmenarez and Ryan McCoy each blasted two homers on the day, powering the Bowling Green Hot Rods (55-25, 8-7) to a 10-7 win in the series finale against the Greensboro Grasshoppers (52-29, 11-4) on Sunday at First National Bank Field in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Grasshoppers plated a run in the bottom of the first against Hot Rods starter K.C. Hunt. Edward Florentino led off with a solo shot to right-center, putting the Grasshoppers ahead 1-0.
Bowling Green plated two runs in the top of the second inning against Greensboro starter Hung-Leng Chang. Marshall Toole led off with a walk, and Carlos Colmenarez homered to left, giving Bowling Green a 2-1 advantage.
The Hot Rods added five more runs in the top of the third against Chang. Aidan Smith led off with a solo homer to make it 3-1. Narciso Polanco walked, Tony Santa Maria singled, and Ryan McCoy slugged a three-run homer to center, increasing the Hot Rods advantage to 6-1. Toole singled, advanced to second on a groundout, and took third on a wild pitch. Jhon Diaz brought him home with another groundout, making it 7-1.
Two runs came around to score for Greensboro in the bottom of the fourth inning against Kaleb Corbett. Murf Gray hit a solo homer to center, and one out later, Brian Sanchez homered to right, bringing the score to 7-3.
Colmenarez swatted his second homer of the game in the top of the fifth against Greensboro reliever Yulian Quinatana, giving Bowling Green an 8-3 edge.
In the top of the sixth, the Hot Rods drove in two more runs against Grasshoppers reliever Jose Garces. Santa Maria doubled, and McCoy belted a two-run homer to center to lengthen the Hot Rods lead to 10-3.
Greensboro score four more runs the rest of the way. In the bottom of the sixth, Brian Sanchez hit a solo shot to left. In the bottom of the seventh, Florentino hit a two-run homer, and Easton Carmichael added a solo home run, making the score 10-7.
Jonathan Russell and Noah Beal combined for 2.1 innings of scoreless relief to close out the game, giving the Hot Rods a 10-7 win in the series finale.
Corbett (3-1) picked up the win, tossing 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on eight hits while striking out one. Chang (4-3) was given the loss, surrendering seven runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts over 2.2 innings. Beal (7) earned the save, tossing 1.0 scoreless innings while letting up just one hit.
The Hot Rods enjoy an off-day on Monday and start a six-game series with the Hub City Spartanburgers in Spartanburg, South Carolina on Tuesday with a 5:35 PM CT first pitch at Fifth Third Park.
Fans can catch all the action by watching on MiLB.tv, listening through the MiLB First Pitch App and BGHotRods.com. Fans can also secure their seats for future home Hot Rods games by calling (270) 901-2121, visiting the Bowling Green Ballpark box office during normal business hours, or going to www.bghotrods.com.
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Hot Rods Baseball