By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It wasn’t the Boone Bigfoots pitching debut Jordan Fisher envisioned when he took command of the mound on August 5 at Smith Stadium. Two pitches, two hit batters — and it set the tone for what ultimately would be a 9-4 win by the Asheboro Zookeepers at Smith Stadium in Boone’s last game of the 2023 Coastal Plain League season.
Fisher will be a redshirt sophomore on Appalachian State’s 2024 baseball roster and made seven appearances earlier this summer for the Mooresville Spinners, the Summer Collegiate Baseball League’s 2023 champions. The towering, 6-4 righthander with a fastball in the low to mid 90s (miles per hour) has some “stuff,” as evidenced by his 11 strikeouts in just nine innings of relief for the Spinners and a 3.00 ERA.
So giving up five runs on seven hits in four innings against the Zookeepers is hardly characteristic of Fisher’s ability, especially when he put up a “zero” in the Zookeepers’ top of the fourth inning, giving up just one single before retiring the side on a fly ball and two strikeouts.
You also have to credit Asheboro’s hot bats on the night. Over the course of the night, the Zookeepers rapped out a home run (CF – Lleyton Lackey), three triples (2B – Cole Laskowski, DH – Todd Hudson, and RF- Dylan Driver), and two doubles (3B – Jared Beebe and C – Dallas Callahan). A restated perspective: two-thirds of the Zookeepers’ batters were credited with extra base hits.
A bright spot on the mound for the Bigfoots was the two shutout innings by another young standout from the App State roster, Clayton Stewart, a 6-4 transfer from Florence-Darlington Technical College.
At the plate, Boone could do but little against the Zookeepers’ starting pitcher, Drew Siegner, the 6-0, 225 lb. righthanded freshman from Campbell University. The Bigfoots collected three runs on eight hits off of the Burlington, N.C. native, but for the entire game, the Boone batters collectively left 11 runners stranded, unable to push them across for runs.
Bright spots in the Boone batting order came at the top and the bottom. Leadoff batter Tristan Salinas, a June graduate of Watauga High School and soon-to-be freshman player for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, opened the game with a sharp single to right and went 2-for-4 while scoring Boone’s first run in the first inning. His patience at the plate was also rewarded with a walk. Defensively, Salinas was on the front end of two double plays executed by the Boone infield.
At the bottom of the batting order, Transylvania University’s rising senior outfielder, Walt Munday, had arguably his best season performance at the plate, going 3-4, with a double and an RBI.
The Bigfoots also got doubles from App State catcher Braxton Critcher and Mars Hill infielder Zach Weaver. Unfortunately, Boone couldn’t string together many consecutive hits nor capitalize on four Zookeeper fielding errors to score enough runs and overcome Asheboro’s hot night at the plate.
Boone finished the second half of the CPL season at 9-14, tied for fifth with the Martinsville Mustangs and just ahead of the 8-15 High Point-Thomasville HiToms. For the full season, Boone was 19-26.
WEST DIVISION STANDINGS
- Lexington County Blowfish (28-18)
- Forest City Owls (26-20)
- Macon Bacon (24-22)
- Asheboro Zookeepers (20-24)
- Boone Bigfoots (19-26)
- Martinsville Mustangs (18-26)
- HP-Thomasville HiToms (16-29)
EAST DIVISION STANDINGS
- Morehead City Marlins (32-15)
- Wilmington Sharks (24-21)
- Wilson Tobs (25-23)
- Peninsula Pilots (24-24)
- Tri-City Chili Peppers (23-23)
- Holly Springs Salamanders (23-25)
- Florence Flamingos (20-26)
