An uncharacteristically sloppy night in the field proved too much to overcome for the Hoptown Hoppers in a 7-5 loss to the visiting Henderson Flash on Monday at Tiger Field.
The Hoppers slip to 4th in the South Division, three games back of Full Count Rhythm at 8-7 overall. The Flash have won eight of ten to improve to 13-3 at the top of the North Division.
Hoptown jumped on top in the bottom of the 1st on Josh Rodriguez’s two-run home run, but the Flash got a run back in the top of the 2nd and took a 3-2 advantage on Ryan Dos Santos’ RBI single in the 3rd.
After tying the game on Fred Fernandez’s sacrifice fly in the 3rd, Jacob Dupps doubled in a run in the 4th for a 4-3 Hopper lead.
Hoptown starter Arren Hash worked the first five frames but was hit with a line drive to lead off the 6th and had to leave the game. Henderson’s Payton Matthews greeted Hoppers’ reliever Jacob De La Cerda with a two-run home run, and the Flash led the rest of the way.
Three 7th-inning Hopper errors allowed Henderson to add to the lead, but Rodriguez’s RBI single cut the margin to one in the bottom of the inning. The Flash restored the two-run cushion on Jeff Hoffman’s run-scoring single in the top of the 9th, and Hoptown went down in order in its final at-bat.
Hash allowed four runs, only one earned, on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts. De La Cerda took the loss, recording one out with a walk and an earned run.
Ren Tachioka was 3/3 at the plate for the Hoppers, Rodriguez had a pair of hits and three runs driven in, and Will Spear hit safely twice.
Hoptown will look to get back on track when Muhlenberg County visits Tiger Field on Tuesday. The Stallions knocked off the Hoppers 7-5 in the teams’ first meeting.
