After surging to three straight victories to even their record at 3-3, the Hoptown Hoppers slipped back below .500 with a 3-2 loss to the Henderson Flash on Monday.
Hoptown’s Payton Armour was lights out on the mound through six innings and exited to start the 7th with a 2-0 lead. The Lincoln Memorial University right-hander allowed only two hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts over six scoreless frames.
Grant Snider’s solo home run in the top of the 3rd put the Hoppers on top, and they doubled the advantage on Harrison Waxley’s sacrifice fly to bring in a run in the 5th.
However, it began to unravel for the Hoppers over the final three innings, beginning with a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 7th to get the Flash on the scoreboard.
Logan Lacey’s sac fly tied the game in the 8th before the Hoppers came up empty with two runners on in the top of the 9th. Crawford Courville opened the Henderson 9th with a single and advanced to third on a two-base error before coming home on another error on the same play to end the game.
Graham Kelham took the loss for the Hoppers after facing a single batter. Snider was 2/3 with an RBI, and Jordan Gonzalez collected two hits for Hoptown.
Logan Haslem picked up the win for the 4-4 Flash, allowing a single hit with a walk and a pair of strikeouts in one inning of work.
The Hoppers will return home to host the Madisonville Miners on Wednesday. The teams have split a pair of meetings so far this season.
