WILSON, N.C. - The Wilson Warbirds took down the Carleston River Dogs 6-5 on a walk-off home run from Tyler Rodriguez to close out the first half of the Carolina League season Thursday night at Wilson Ballpark.
Wilson (36-30) struck first, plating five in the second including two home runs. Luis Lameda gave Wilson the early lead, leading off the inning with a solo home run. Immediately following, Filippo Di Turi and Kevin Garcia both singled. Di Turi and Garcia came around to score on a two-run double from Rodriguez to give Wilson a 3-0 advantage.
The exclamation point of the inning was Jose Anderson’s league-leading 17th home run of the year to plate Rodriguez and hadn Wilson a 5-0 cushion.
Charleston (37-29) plated five in the top of the third, responding right back to tie the game at five with a two-run double from Brady Marget and a two-run home run off of Larry Martinez’s bat.
The two teams remained tied at five until the bottom of the ninth thanks to excellent pitching.
Jose Meneses (W, 4-0) retired all three batters he faced in the top of the ninth to set the table for his offense.
It only took one batter for Wilson to walk off as winners, with Tyler Rodriguez smashing a solo home run to left field to give Wilson a 6-5 victory.
Mason Nichols (L, 2-3) surrendered the home run for Charleston and took the loss.
The second half kicks off Friday night at 7:05 with RHP Tyler Renz (2-2, 3.66) on the hill for Wilson against LHP Blake Morgan (0-0, 1.47). Tickets for tomorrow’s Margarittaville Night are available at WilsonWarbirds.com or by calling (919) 269-2287.