BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Behind early offense and a strong start from Caden Scarborough, the Spartanburgers’ took a commanding 8-1 lead into the stretch against Bowling Green on Friday night. Despite a furious comeback, the ‘Burgers (14-25, 48-57) held on against the Hot Rods (26-13, 73-32) for an 8-7 win.
Scarborough and Jack Kartsonas opened with clean first innings. The ‘Burgers struck first in the second. With one out, Maxton Martin doubled. An out later, Antonis Macias singled him in, and Arturo De Freitas doubled to add a second tally to the board.
Scarborough struck out the side in the second and kept a no-hitter going through the fourth. The lead blossomed in the third. Casey Cook hit a ground-rule double. With two outs, Gleider Figuereo walked and Martin homered for the third time in two days. Hub City took a 6-0 lead in the fourth on a pair of doubles from De Freitas and Carter Garate.
After four innings from Kartsonas (L, 6-4), Andres Galan took over and pitched a scoreless fifth. Ryan McCoy tallied the first Hot Rods hit of the night to lead off the bottom of the fifth and came around to score.
Hub City responded with a run in both the sixth and the seventh. Macias led off the sixth with a double, and Garate scored him on a single. Cook smoked a leadoff homer in the seventh, the final run of the night for the ‘Burgers. Ryan Andrade and Mason Nichols both provided scoreless innings for Bowling Green.
Scarborough’s (W, 1-4) night ended with two outs in the sixth. Joe Adametz took over for the final out. The southpaw stayed out for the seventh. Bowling Green loaded the bases with two singles and a hit batter. A wild pitch brought in a run, and a Nicandro Aybar single cashed in two more.
With one out in the eighth, Adametz hit a second batter. Narciso Polanco doubled, and Ryan Cermak brought in two more runs with a single. Bowling Green cut the Hub City lead to one with a single and a fielding error. Luimy Munoz took over and finished the inning with a strikeout.
Munoz (S, 2) trotted back out to pitch the bottom of the ninth with a one-run lead. He walked Aybar to start the frame, and a sac bunt moved the tying run to scoring position. A popout and a walk followed. With two on and two away, Narciso Polanco smacked a line drive to the gap in left-center. Marcos Torres took away the base hit with a sprawling grab to win the game.
With a series split already secure, Hub City tries for more on Saturday night. First pitch in game five of the series is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. ET. The ‘Burgers turn to righty Izack Tiger (0-4, 10.26 ERA) on the mound against Hot Rods lefty Dominic Fritton (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
About the Hub City Spartanburgers
The Hub City Spartanburgers are the High-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers and the reigning South Atlantic League South Division Champions. For more information on the Spartanburgers, visit milb.com/hub-city. For information about tickets to any of Hub City’s 66 home games, call 864-594-0701 or email: tickets@hcspartanburgers.com. For media inquiries, email: iunsworth@hcspartanburgers.com. Follow along with the Spartanburgers on social media.
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