(HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C) On Thursday night the Salamanders picked up their first win in a one-run ballgame, defeating the Wilmington Sharks 4-3 at Ting Stadium. On Friday, the Manders fell to 1-7 in such contests as the Fayetteville Swampdogs won the ballgame by the same score.
Holly Springs opened the scoring when catcher Ryan Orr (San Diego State) singled through the right side to score fellow Aztec Jacob Maekawa from second base to give the Manders a 1-0 lead off of Fayetteville starter Jakob Ryan.
The top of the fourth inning proved to be quite costly for the Salamanders, when the Swampdogs brought across three runs. When Holly Springs starter Joseph Whitt (Lander) walked the leadoff man Matt Kelly, Joey Wiemer hit a ground ball to third baseman Jacob Maekawa, whose throw to second base was wild and rolled into right field, setting up first and third with no outs. After an RBI single, a passed ball and a sacrifice fly put Fayetteville out in front 3-1. All three runs that came across were unearned. Joseph Whitt finished the night tossing 5.0 innings, allowing three unearned runs on four hits, striking out one and walking three. Whitt was the losing pitcher, falling to 0-1 on the year.
The Manders got one one back in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Jacob Maekawa was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it a 3-2 game. The Manders however scored just one run in the inning despite having runners on first and second with no outs and later the bases loaded with only one out. The Salamanders left a total of seven men on base Friday night.
After another costly error led to another unearned Fayetteville run in the top of the eighth inning, the Salamanders got it righrt back in the bottom half when pinch hitter Daulton Martin (Tusculum) knocked an RBI single to left field which scored Cam Locklear (Liberty) to pull the Manders within a run. In the bottom of the ninth, Holly Springs got the tying run to first base but no further as Fayetteville southpaw reliever Austin Goff nailed down the five out save to end the ballgame.
The win moved Fayetteville to 5-6 on the season while the Salamanders fell to 4-10 in defeat.
Holly Springs will travel to Fayetteville for a Saturday night matchup with the Swampdogs before returning home Sunday afternoon for a 5:40 game against the Martinsville Mustangs.
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