By: Evan Rogers
HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. — A lot of aspects in baseball tend to be contagious.
When one player — or group of teammates within a lineup — can crack off consecutive hits, an entire dugout can come to life. If a team can string together wins, an entire club can rally off multiple victories.
Needless to say, momentum’s contagious state is something every team searches for during the course of a game.
In Holly Springs’ 9-8 defeat to the Asheboro Zookeepers at Ting Stadium, it was a slew of home runs that became contagious amongst those in charcoal and lime green that powered Asheboro to victory.
Coming into Sunday night’s bout, the Zookeepers were amidst a four-game winning streak that has Asheboro sitting atop the Coastal Plain League’s West Division. After going a league-worst 3-20 in the season’s first half, the Zookeeper’s pieces seemed to be falling into place.
“(Asheboro) has always had the same guys that could always swing it and they’ve put it together through the second half,” catcher Robert Brooks said.
However, what ended up being a fifth-straight win for the Zookeepers started off as a contest that looked to favor Holly Springs.
By the second inning, the Salamanders ripped a five-run frame thanks to a costly error by Asheboro and mature patience across Holly Springs’ lineup, resulting in three drawn walks.
Yet, the Salamanders fail to exploit the Zookeepers early, leaving runners stranded and failing to notch another hit to open the game up.
“If we get a big blow in one of the gaps or down the line, it really snowballs on itself,” head coach Brian Rountree said. “We just didn’t get that hit tonight to really propel us and separate us from Asheboro.”
Two innings later, Asheboro chipped into its deficit.
After first baseman Bryce Marsh drew a lead-off walk, Ronald Evans entered the batter box. On the second pitch he faced, the designated hitter launched a two-run homer to left field.
Although the home run sliced the Salamanders’ lead to three, the contest still looked to be in hand for Holly Springs — or so it appeared.
In the same frame, left fielder Kennedy Jones rocketed a grand slam past the center field batter’s eyes, giving the Zookeepers their first lead of the evening. The momentous swing flipped a once joyous Salamander dugout into one in dire need of life.
“We have to cut down on mistakes,” Rountree said. “We’ve got to put ourselves in a good position to win.”
Holly Springs would go on to retake the lead in the latter half of the fourth inning, but the contagious nature of baseball had long sided with the visitors, as the Zookeepers skyed their third home run of the night in the next inning.
And, to hear pitcher Alec Rodriguez say it, there’s only two ways to process the loss.
“You can sit back and sulk or come out and dominate,” he said. “You learn from it and you take it in, but you also have to understand that you have to wake up tomorrow and play another game.”