By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — After a break in the weather that allowed the Boone Bigfoots to make-up at least one game with a doubleheader against the Martinsville Mustangs on June 25, the local baseball team earned a split decision. They defeated the Mustangs at Smith Stadium, 4-1, in the curtain-raiser but fell to the visitors in the nightcap, 7-5.
A six and one half-hour bus ride from Macon, Ga., where they played a day earlier against the Macon Bacon left the Bigfoots all but exhausted as they arrived at Smith Stadium just an hour before the first game was set to begin.
GAME 1
Starting pitcher Dante Chirico, an App State team member during the spring, was in good form against Martinsville in the first game. He pitched four innings of shutout ball before giving up a run in the fifth inning and then yielding to reliever Lawrence Gallo. Chirico face 22 batters, allowing the one run on four hits, walking four and striking out five.
Neither Gallo nor closer Cordarius Butler allowed a run in what was kept as a 7-inning game to accommodate the doubleheader.
Offensively, the Bigfoots opened the game with a run in the first inning when leadoff batter Andrew McDermott cracked a double to center and Nadir Lewis drove him home with a single to left two batters later.
With Chirico, Gallo and Butler all in top form from the mound, Boone added single runs in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
GAME 2
Martinsville earned the split decision in Game 2 with a middle innings rally and a strong pitching performance by Ryan Friesen, who kept the Bigfoots bats mostly silent through four innings of work. The righthander allowed a pair of runs on three hits, walking one and striking out three during his stint on the mound.
The Bigfoots countered in the second game with Dakota Crumbley on the hill, who likewise put in four innings of work before getting into trouble in the top of the fifth. For the day, Crumbley gave up four runs on just one hit, with four walks and a strikeout. Reliever Nate McKissick didn’t fare much better, allowing three runs on three hits in just two innings.
The Bigfoots’ four fielding errors, two by Crumbley, did not help their cause.
The visiting Mustangs’ Drew Needham went 2-4 at the plate, including a home run, producing two runs scored and two RBIs. For the Bigfoots, Tyler Bass smacked a home run and two doubles to go 3-3, with three runs scored and three RBIs. Max Weller helped Boone’s cause at the plate, too, going 1-3 with 2 RBIs.
Next action for the Bigfoots is an June 26 road tilt against Forest Cirty, where they hope to reverse their fortunes so far this season against the Owls, who have proven Boone’s nemesis in Coastal Plain League action.
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