Brennan Mealer came to Hopkinsville this summer to try to barrel up at the plate and move his offensive needle after a season at Vol State College.
Mealer’s barrel found plenty of baseballs on Wednesday as he drove in five runs in the Hoptown Hoppers’ 15-6 win over the Fulton Railroaders at Tiger Field.
The Hoppers’ first baseman hit a three-run home run as part of a five-run first inning and later added a two-run single in the fourth.
Mealer is batting .349 for the Hoppers this season with four homers and 15 RBI.
Hoptown also got a three-hit night from Gavin Powell, who hit an opposite-field solo home run in the third inning – his first homer at any level on his former high school field.
Powell finished 3 for 3 with two RBI and three runs scored.
Hoptown led 11-2 after seven innings before the Railroaders made things interesting in the eighth. Matt Herlick led off with a home run. Three batters later, Jacob Lott added a three-run shot to cut the deficit to 11-6.
However, the Hoppers got the four runs back in the home half of the eighth. Powell singled home Chance Sweeney, Hayden Hunt added a sacrifice fly, and Evan Leonard had a two-run single.
Gabe Eddington, Evan Jacob (2 RBI), and Caden Slaughter each added two hits as part of a 16-hit night for the Hoppers, who stole seven bases.
The Hopper offense accompanied a strong pitching performance from Heath Henley, who made his season debut with six innings of four-hit ball. The tall righty from the University of Auburn-Montgomery scattered four hits and struck out five with a walk and one earned run allowed.
Sweeney pitched two innings of scoreless relief when things got interesting and struck out three.
Fulton (5-15) also got a solo home run from Zaid Diaz in the sixth inning.
Hoptown has won four of five from the Railroaders this season and seven of eight dating back to last season. Hoptown leads the all-time series with Fulton 57-54.
With Henderson’s loss to the Full County Rhythm on Wednesday, the Hoppers moved into first place by a half-game over the Flash. Hoptown (15-5) can put some distance between them and the Flash in the next two days as they travel to Henderson on Thursday and return home to play them on Friday.
