Charlotte pitcher Hunter May was the eighth and final pitcher of the evening Tuesday against the High Point Panthers. May is now 8-0. Photo by Chris Crews
The Charlotte 49ers (33-19) defeated the High Point Panthers (26-27) 3-2 in the final home game of the regular season at Robert and Mariam Hayes Stadium. In what turned out to be a battle of the bullpens, the 49ers won their ninth-straight game in 11 innings with the help of eight Charlotte pitchers.
49ers pitcher Corey Roberts opened the game with a scoreless top half of the first inning. JJ Elseser started the 49ers off with a base hit. Elseser advanced to second base after Michael Green picked up the first out. Panthers shortstop Willie Medina picked up an error against Shane Basen sending Elseser to third base and putting Basen on first. Panthers pitcher Mike Krumm overthrew a ball hit by Brad Elwood and sent Elseser home to earn the first run of the game.
In the top of the second inning, the Panthers left fielder Adam Barry knocked one to right center field to pick up a double. An RBI by Cody Manzella sent Barry home to even the score. With runners on second and third base, the Panthers picked up their second run of the game and took an early 2-1 lead.
The Panthers held on to their lead until the bottom of the fourth inning. Brad Elwood picked up an early base hit and left fielder Justin Seager was walked, advancing Elwood to second base. Tony Montalbano picked up a hit and safely got on base, but Seager was thrown out running to second. With 49ers on the corners, catcher Nick Daddio put up a base hit sending Elwood home and earned a run to tie the game at 2-2.
Freshman pitcher Adam Huffman came in at the top of the sixth inning to hold the Panthers. Huffman struck out pinch hitter Scott Glover.
After Seager was hit with a pitch and Daddio was walked, pitcher Will Resnik came in for the Panthers to close out the bottom of the sixth inning.
Pitcher Sean Geoghegan threw the first pitch of the seventh inning. The Panthers were able to put Kyle Brandenburg on third, but 49ers pitcher Sean Pope came in and struck out batter Willie Medina to pick up the third out.
High Point started off the bottom of the seventh inning with pitcher Adam Pratson, but after he walked both Michael Green and Basen, Jared Avidon came in to close the inning for the Panthers.
49ers pitcher Wes Hatley pitched the entire top half of the eighth inning and kept the Panthers from scoring. Avidon allowed Charlotte to pick up a few hits in the bottom of the eighth, but the 49ers were unable to score.
Pitching for the 49ers, Jason Harris went three-up, three-down in the top of the ninth.
Grant Dunnegan made sure he didn’t pass up a good pitch in the bottom half of the tenth inning. After thirteen pitches, Dunnegan hit a fly ball sky high, but it was caught and Charlotte picked up their first out. After nine innings, the score remained tied at two.
In the third extra innings game of the season for the 49ers, Basen made an unbelievable catch out of nowhere to throw out Medina. The 49ers then brought in Ryan Mas to pitch. Mas marked the seventh pitcher of the game for the 49ers. With two outs and Panthers on first and second base, Hunter May (8-0) was brought in as the eighth and final pitcher for the 49ers.
Seager fired a hit off to deep left center and sent 49er fans to their feet, but the ball could not clear the fence. Seager picked up his twenty-first double of the season. With Seager on second base with two outs, Montalbano grounded out a ball to third base and picked up the third out.
Panthers Sly Edwards grounded a ball to Elwood, but was thrown out at first. May struck out Dane McDermott in the top of the eleventh to pick up the second out. Medina picked up the third out of the inning sending pitcher John Maloney to the mound for the Panthers.
Daddio struck out as the first batter for the 49ers in the bottom of the eleventh. Derek Gallello got struck with a pitch sending him walking to first base. Dunnegan rocked off a hit to left center advancing Gallello to third base. After Elseser picked up the second out on a bounced hit to Maloney, Gallello was able to get on third base and Dunnegan made it safely to second. Green put up a hit sending Gallello home continuing the victory streak with the ninth straight win for the 49ers.
In an 11-inning game that utilized eight Charlotte pitchers, head coach Loren Hibbs seemed more than confident in his decision to switch up the 49ers on the mound.
“Good thing is we got a lot of guys in the game pitching wise, which was good,” Hibbs said.
“We’re going to need a lot of guys come conference tournament time so it was good to get them in the game. I thought Roberts pitched pretty well, and we basically played just about everybody that we could have. I got a chance to get a lot of pitchers in.”
The Charlotte 49ers will travel to Saint Louis in the last series of the regular season on Thursday.