BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – Homer Bush Jr. led the Bowling Green Hot Rods (39-19, 75-49) to a 5-4 win over the Greensboro Grasshoppers (31-29, 70-55) to win the second-half title in the SAL South Division at First National Bank Field in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Hot Rods will take on the Rome Emperors on Tuesday, September 10 at Bowling Green Ballpark in the first round of the SAL playoffs.
Greensboro opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning against Bowling Green starter Ty Johnson. Kalae Harrison led off with a double and stole third. Mitch Jebb lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Harrison, making it a 1-0 Greensboro lead. The Grasshoppers added another run in the bottom of the fourth against Hot Rods reliever Roel Garcia III with a solo homer from Omar Alfonso.
The Hot Rods answered with three runs in the top of the fifth inning against Greensboro starter J.P. Massey. Tatem Levins led off with a single and Kamren James was hit by a pitch. Gregory Barrios doubled, scoring Levins, making it 2-1. Homer Bush Jr singled, scoring James and Barrios, giving Bowling Green a 3-2 lead.
The Grasshoppers regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning against Garcia III. Duce Gourson singled and Shawn Ross doubled, putting runners on the corners. Josiah Sightler singled, scoring Gourson and Ross, giving Greensboro a 4-3 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Bowling Green tied the game against Greensboro reliever Alesandro Ercolani. Hunter Haas singled and advanced to second on a Barrios groundout. Bush Jr. singled, scoring Haas, tying the game 4-4. In the top of the ninth, Mac Horvath singled, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Noah Myers. He moved up to third on a groundout by Brock Jones and scored on a wild pitch to give Bowling Green a 5-4 lead. Jackson Lancaster tossed a perfect ninth inning, locking the Hot Rods into the playoffs with a 5-4 win.
Drew Sommers (6-3) got the win, tossing 2.0 perfect innings with four strikeouts. Ercolani (6-2) was given the loss, hurling 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on three hits, walking one and striking out two. Lancaster (2) earned the save with 1.0 perfect inning with two strikeouts.
The Hot Rods and Grasshoppers play the second game of a six-game series on Wednesday at 5:30 PM CT at First National Bank Field.
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