Make it back-to-back wins for the Hoptown Hoppers. A night after knocking off the Fulton Railroaders, the Hoppers got stellar pitching from the bullpen as they rallied from a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 win over Louisville Saturday night at Christian County High School.
Early on, the story of the game was the performance of Louisville starting pitcher Ashton Deskins. Deskins owned the game early giving the Hoppers virtually nothing, allowing the Hoppers just two baserunners over the first four innings and neither of those runners advancing past first base.
Meanwhile, Deskins’ teammates were able to put runs on the board in each of the first two innings. A single and walk with two outs gave the Jockeys runners at first and second. Sam Palmeiri then drove in the first run of the night with an RBI single to put Louisville up 1-0 after half an inning.
The Jockeys got back on the board in the top of the second. After a walk and a double to lead off the inning, Louisville scored a run on a wild pitch and then an RBI single from Kannon Stull and extended the lead to 3-0.
As the Jockeys took the lead, Deskins kept rolling along. He finished four innings of work, allowing no runs on one hit, striking out four and walking just one. But then, there was a pitching change in the bottom of the 5th for Louisville, and the Hoppers took full advantage.
The Hoppers were less than hospitable to new Jockey pitcher Jack Mackert. Dom Oliverio welcomed Mackert to the game by driving the third pitch he saw over the centerfield fence to cut the lead to 3-1. A walk, two singles and a Louisville error later and the Hoppers had tied the game and had chased Mackert from the game after just one inning of work.
The Hoppers took their first lead of the night in the bottom of the seventh. Luis Villalba opened the inning with a single. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and then to third on another wild pitch, scoring on an error by Jockeys’ catcher to give Hoptown a 4-3 lead.
While Hoptown found a way to score enough runs to get to the lead, Hoppers pitching controlled the night after the second inning. Starting pitcher Baylen White and three relievers shut out the Jockeys over the final seven innings. Louisville threatened but did not score in the fifth and, in the top of the ninth, the Jockeys put two runners on with two outs, but reliever Chase Gruno closed out the save with a strikeout to give the Hoppers the win.
Louisville outhit Hoptown nine to six, but the Hoppers made the most of their opportunties.
Kaito Muto led the Hoppers offense, going 2-3 in the leadoff spot with one RBI and one run scored.
John Girard picked up the win for the Hoppers in relief. He went three innings on the mound, giving up no runs on four hits, striking out one and walking none.
