Down to their final two outs, the Piedmont Pride offense found new life in the top of the ninth at Victory Christian High School on Saturday night, scoring four unanswered runs to walk away with a road win over the Charlotte Crushers 4-1.
Richard De La Cruz got the rally started off in the ninth inning, scoring Andrew Judkins on a RBI ground out to tie the game at one run apiece. The next batter, Mark Engel, was walked on four straight pitches and stole second on the first pitch that Brayden Lyman saw. Lyman smacked a hard ground ball to the right fielder three pitches later and Engel received the green light from Jason Goe at third base to score the eventual game winning run.
The Red and Blue added two more runs off the bats of Scottie Lee and Bam Thomas to add some insurance runs and make it a, 4-1 ball game for Ethan Martinez in the bottom of the ninth.
Taylor Rohrer got the nod for his fourth start this summer, throwing 6.0 innings, allowing three hits, no earned runs, and striking out seven Charlotte batters. Rohrer has been excellent for the Pride this summer, posting a 3.00 ERA and a 27 to 14 strikeout to walk ratio.
Ethan Martinez collected his second win for the Piedmont Pride this summer out of the bullpen. The crafty righty threw 3.0 innings of scoreless baseball allowing only two hits and most importantly the win.
Three Pride batters collected multi-hit games. Brayden Lyman was 3-for-5 on the night driving in the game winning run. Mark Engel continues to show why a lot of fans are saying he will be the first name on the SCBL all-star roster, collecting two hits and a walk.
The Pride will be back in action on Monday night at York Comprehensive High School as the calendars turn to the month of July. The Pride will host the Carolina Vipers who have begun to catch fire late in June, going 7-3 in their last 10 games.
