Hub City came into the series finale on Mothers’ Day with an opportunity to take the series. They would send DJ McCarty (0-1, 7.50 ERA) to the hill to face Wilmington right hander Bryan Polanco (0-0, 7.13) with a roster that had a few new faces from Hickory.
In light of the fire that canceled the remainder of the series this weekend for the Crawdads, several players were sent up to ensure they get a little playing time — including shortstop Yolfran Castillo, right fielder Hector Osorio, and a couple of relievers. Both Castillo and Osorio would find themselves in the starting lineup for the Spartanburgers.
In nearly mirror image to Saturday, Hub City found themselves down early thanks to a solo home run when Ronny Cruz lined the payoff pitch to the berm for a solo shot. Back to back strikeouts followed to get McCarty out of the inning, but after the offense stranded a pair of 1 out walks in the bottom of the frame, another 1 out solo shot to the berm, this one from Kevin Bazzell, made it 2-0.
McCarty settled in nicely from there, hanging a goose egg over the next 4 innings, facing the minimum in all of them, and notching three 1-2-3 frames in that span.
Hub City finally broke through offensively in the bottom of the 6th when Rafe Perich blasted a 1-2 pitch from Eiker Huizi 424 feet into the visitor bullpen to lead off. Maxton Martin followed with a single, but Huizi got the next three all swinging to end the inning with the Blue Rocks still in front 2-1.
After 6 innings of 2 run ball with six strikeouts, 3 hits, and no walks, DJ McCarty gave way to Josh Sanders to start the 7th. After issuing a walk to Angel Feliz, Ethan Petry blasted the first of two 2-run homers in the frame — the other coming after a 1 out Bazzell single from Dorman alum TJ White. Sanders struck out the next two to retire the side, but Hub City found themselves down 6-1 at the stretch.
The Burgers started a rally in the bottom of the 7th with consecutive walks to Ben Hartl and Luke Hanson. With one out, Disla was issued a free pass to load the bases and with 2 away, consecutive bases loaded walks to Martin and Figuereo cut the lead to three. Yolfran Castillo went down swinging to leave the sacks full, but it was a 6-3 game heading to the 8th.
Owen Proksch, who was among those brought in from Hickory, tossed a scoreless frame in spite of a two out walk to Feliz followed by a Petry single. After getting two more runners aboard in the ensuing half inning on a 1 out Hartl single and a 2 out HBP to Kling, Arturo Disla whiffed.
Wilmington added on in the top of the 9th when Elijah Green, who was 0 for his last 7 with 7 strikeouts before the at-bat, took Proksch deep to the home bullpen to lead off, stretching the Blue Rocks’ lead to 4. Bazzell followed with a single and Teo Banks drew a 2 out walk, setting up a 2-run double from Devin Fitz-Gerald, making it 9-3 as Hub City came to the dish for the last call.
In the end, despite a 2 out walk to Figuereo followed by a single from Castillo, Hector Osorio hit a comebacker to mark the 2nd anticlimactic ending of the last 3 days as Hub City fell to split the series.
The Spartanburgers (16-16) will hit I-26 for a 6 game road trip to the newly renovated McCormick Field in Asheville (now called HomeTrust Park). That series will begin Tuesday night at 6:05 PM with pitching matchups yet to be announced.
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