RAMSEUR — Deep River broke open a tight contest by taking advantage of five walks and a hit batter to push across five runs in the top of the eighth while holding off a late Carolina surge to capture an 8-4 Old North State League victory over the Coyotes Thursday night at I. Fletcher Craven Stadium.
The outcome left both teams with an identical 3-3 record in the league standings.
Warren Gay, the second of four Muddogs’ pitchers, picked up the win after giving up three hits and a pair of earned runs while striking out one in two innings of work.
Deep River starter Noah Carter hurled four and two-third innings of shutout ball, scattering five hits while issuing two free passes and whiffing one.
Muddogs’ reliever Austin Johnson tossed one and one-third innings of hitless ball, walking one and fanning one, before Ben Casstevens came on to throw the final frame, allowing three hits and a pair of earned runs in addition to issuing one walk and striking out one.
Parker Clayton and Cade Culberson collected three hits apiece to lead Deep River’s 11-hit attack.
“I thought we had a great all-around effort tonight,” said Muddogs’ coach Michael Milian.
“We had good approaches at the plate, didn’t chase balls and found ways to get people on base and move them around.”
“Noah Carter gave us a good four and two-third innings on the mound, while our relievers limited damage by working their way out of some tough spots.”
Adam Dossenbach opened on the hill for Carolina and went six innings, absorbing the loss after surrendering nine hits and three earned runs in addition to walking three and fanning six.
Gerard Chamra pitched one and one-third innings in relief, yielding two hits and five earned runs while issuing three free passes and whiffing three, prior to Vinny Consolo hurling one and two-third scoreless frames, walking two and striking out four.
“We couldn’t get our timing down at the plate early-on and took too long to get anything going offensively,” noted Coyotes’ coach Riley Nelson.
“When we did manage to put the ball in play we hit it hard but right to somebody until we eventually found some holes in the late innings.”
“Our pitchers kept us in the game by getting ahead in the count and hitting their spots until we ran into problems in the eighth inning when we started falling behind batters and were unable to fill the strike zone.”
Deep River took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, filling the sacks when Clayton and Clay Richardson led off the frame with back-to-back singles and Jordan Cassell drew a walk before Walter Parham drove in Clayton with a one-out base hit to left.
The Muddogs added a solo run in the visitors’ second as Culberson stroked a leadoff opposite-field double down the left field line, moved to third on a groundout and scored when Clayton lofted a sacrifice fly to right.
Deep River increased its advantage to 3-0 in the top of the fourth as Jordan Moss and Jamey May opened the inning with back-to-back base hits and Culberson walked on four pitches prior to Moss being thrown out at the plate when Noah Handy hit into a double play that advanced May to third before the latter came in to score on Clayton’s infield single.
Carolina rallied to close the difference to 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh as Tyler Myers notched a two-out opposite-field single to right, stole second and came home when Darden Eure poked an opposite-field base hit to left.
Eure continued to second on the relay throw from the outfield and scored when Cort Maynard lined a single to center.
But the Muddogs would put the contest out of reach in the visitors’ eight by capitalizing on walks, a hit batter and a pair of timely hits.
Following consecutive one-out base hits by May and Culberson plus a free pass issued to Handy that loaded the bases, Clayton drew a walk on four pitches to bring in May before Culberson came home when Richardson was hit by a pitch.
After a base on balls to Cassell forced in Handy, back-to-back walks to Parham and Moss one out later brought in Clayton and Richardson to put Deep River up 8-2.
The Coyotes attempted a late comeback in the home ninth as Myers coaxed a full-count leadoff walk and went to second on Tyler Dodson’s infield hit before the pair advanced a base on a wild pitch.
One out later Kevin Greenwood singled to center to drive in Myers, sending Dodson to third, and the latter came in to score on Hayden Setzer’s infield hit before Casstevens was able to nail down the triumph.