By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Hot-hitting Watauga High School alum Tristan Salinas rapped a two-out single to right in the bottom half of the third inning to get things started for the Boone Bigfoots vs. the Forest City Owls on July 28, then scored on a bases loaded walk for the home team’s first run. That proved to be just the beginning for both Salinas and the Bigfoots as Boone cruised to a 9-4 win at Smith Stadium.
Salinas had a big night at the plate, going 3-for-5 with one run scored, and one RBI, as well as his fifth double of the Coastal Plain League season, an RBI 2-bagger through the gap in centerfield. Salinas’ double came with two outs in the bottom the seventh inning, producing the final run of the Bigfoots’ 5-run explosion in the frame to gain separation from the Owls on the scoreboard.
If there was a bigger bat for the Bigfoots than Salinas’, it was in the hands of first baseman J.C. Navarro, who jumped out of a season-long slump to go 2-4, including a home run and a double. Navarro’s 6th-inning dinger broke a 3-3 deadlock that put Boone ahead for the first time and gave the Bigfoots momentum going into their monster seventh inning at the plate.
With three RBIs on the night and scoring one run, leadoff batter Will Dorrell was also a key contributor in the Bigfoots win, going 2-3, walking twice and striking out once. He also stole his second base of the season.
Boone’s starting pitcher Riley Bost was credited with the win, scattering eight hits over six innings and allowing three runs to the Owls, all in the first three innings. Although Bost’s stat line for the night was uneven, he was able to wriggle out of what could have been a disastrous, bases-loaded jam in the top of the third inning by striking out consecutive batters for the final two outs.
In relief, righthander Caleb Jones pitched two strong innings for the Bigfoots, giving up no runs on no hits while walking just one batter and striking out two.
Clayton Stewart, an App State transfer from Florence-Darlington Technical College, served at the Bigfoots closer in pitching the final inning. He gave up one unearned run in facing just four batters.
At this point in the Bigfoots’ first season in the CPL, no lead is safe, even in the late innings because of their lack of pitching depth. A couple of their hurlers have been injured and others have either gone home for the end of summer or gone back to school.
For the Owls, which earlier in the first half of the CPL slate proved to be the Bigfoots’ nemesis, leftfielder Will Butcher arguably had the team’s biggest night in going 2-4, with a home run, one run scored and two RBIs.
KEY BATTING PERFORMANCES
- BIG – Tristan Salinas: 3-5, 1 run scored, 1 RBI, 2B
- BIG – Will Dorrell: 2-3, 1 run scored, 3 RBIs, SB, 2 walks
- BIG – Tyler Bass: 2-3, 1 run scored, 1 RBI, 2 SB, 2 walks
- BIG – J C Navarro: 2-4, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI, HR
- FOR – Will Butcher: 2-4, 1 run scored, 2 RBIs, HR
- FOR – Dominic Scavone: 2-4, 1 RBI, 2B
- FOR – Andrew Lanphere: 2-5, 2 runs scored
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