CHARLOTTE – Charlotte Baseball hit three home runs in a game for the third time this season in an 11-2 win over South Florida on Friday night (March 27) at Hayes Stadium.
 
The three home runs were part of five extra-base hits out of 12 total for Charlotte (17-9, 2-2 American) in its series-opening win over the Bulls (21-5, 2-2 American).
 
The game was paused for an hour and 21 minutes in the bottom of the seventh inning as inclement weather rolled through the area, with the total time from first pitch to last out lasting 4:22.
 
“It was a great start to the weekend,” said head coach Robert Woodard. “That’s a good club that we’re going against this weekend in South Florida. I’m very proud of our guys. They played a great game on Tuesday and had good practices on Wednesday and Thursday. There are days where you can look at the guys and tell that they’re ready to go, and they had that [look] today. It was a great start from Eddie to get us five strong innings and into the sixth and then top-to-bottom we had quality at bats against really good arms. We appreciate all the fans that came out tonight too. I thought the energy at The Hayes was great. We say all the time that you can’t beat Fridays at The Hayes, so we appreciate all the fans that came out tonight, hung through the weather delay, and finished strong with us.”
 
Cody Gunderson hit the first long ball of the game in the opening inning, followed by one from Johnny Sutryk in the fourth, and then a team-leading seventh from Dylan Koontz to reach double-digit runs in back-to-back games.
 
Sutryk’s was his first of the season, making him the 10th 49er to leave the yard this year. He also added a single for his first multi-RBI and multi-hit games of the campaign. All three players who homered ended up with multi-hit games, with Koontz adding a pair of singles to go with his big fly and Gunderson also roping a two-run double for a team-high four RBIs in the game. Koontz, Sutryk, and Adrian Jimenez all ended with a pair of ribbies in the game – with Jimenez bringing home two on a triple.
 
Spencer Nolan, Todd Hudson, Alec DeMartino, and Cale Stricklin all had hits in the game, with all but one 49er in the starting lineup having a hit on their ledger.
 
Despite the weather delay, Charlotte only used two arms in the game, starting with Eddie Copper. He picked up his third win of the season, striking out a pair of batters in the first five innings of work. Joseph Taylor was the lone arm to come out of the bullpen, entering in the sixth and pitching on both ends of the stoppage. Taylor fanned five batters in the final four innings, notching his second save of the season in the process.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Charlotte opened the scoring three batters in when Gunderson deposited one into the trees in left-center. Hudson legged out an infield single to get the first runner of the day on and then Gunderson swung on the first pitch he saw for his first home run in five weeks.
 
Extra-base hits helped the Niners tack on four more in the fourth when Jimenez and Sutryk both drove in a pair. Koontz led the frame off with his second hit of the game and moved up 90 feet when Stricklin took a four-pitch walk. Both runners came home two pitches later when Jimenez legged out a triple to the wall in right. Jimenez didn’t have to stay on base long as Sutryk mashed one over the wall in center for his first homer of the season and the team’s second of the game.
 
The Niners loaded them up in the fifth, but couldn’t bring any more insurance runs around as a strikeout left them loaded.
 
South Florida took advantage and started chipping away, plating a run in the sixth and then getting a second one across on a sacrifice fly in the seventh, which would end up being the visitor’s final runs of the contest.
 
Charlotte didn’t get anything in the seventh – before or after the delay – but opened the floodgates in the eighth with a five-run inning, this time capitalizing with the bases juiced. Stricklin and Nolan placed singles around a walk worked by Jimenez to put the ducks on the pond for Hudson. He brought the first run of the inning home on a sac fly before Gunderson plated the other two with a double hooked into the left-field corner. Koontz was the next batter up and muscled one over the wall in left, bringing home Gunderson with his team-leading seventh home run of the season.
 
Taylor came into the game two innings before the delay and ran back out to the bump after the break, where he was just as dominant. He picked up two strikeouts in the eighth and then one more in the ninth as he left a Bull on base from an error to secure the series-opening win.
 
UP NEXT
Charlotte looks to take the series from South Florida in the middle game between the two on Saturday (March 28) at 4 p.m.