LOCAL SPORTS ROUNDUP: Details on the end of the ZooKeepers' season

A host of one-run losses helped end the Coastal Plain League season for the Asheboro ZooKeepers. They accounted for half of a six-game losing streak in the last week of the season, putting them 1/2 game out of second place and 2 1/2 games out of the lead in the CPL West Division. 

But it wasn’t all on the ZooKeepers: Macon ran off 14 wins in a row and won 15 of their last 16 to storm to the division lead. Second-place Forest City won 8 of their last 10 games, including three straight in the last week against Asheboro and then the playoff game between the two teams, 3-2 in walkoff fashion. Macon defeated Forest City 2-1 in a best-of three series. Macon won 17-2, then Forest City won 5-4 before Macon closed it out with a 7-2 triumph to advance to the league championship series played this past weekend against East Division winner Morehead City.

If it’s any consolation, Asheboro had the second-best expected win-loss mark in the PCL at 31-17, just behind More-head City’s 36-12, according to iScore, which kept the official standings this year for the Coastal Plain League (see them at https://pro.iscorecentral.com/CPL/standings). Macon had an expected win-loss mark of 28-19 and Forest City 24-23, but it’s if and when you win, not how.

Here’s more on the ZooKeepers’ last two games and some other interesting news from the week.

ZooKeepers baseball 

■ The Asheboro ZooKeepers saw their 2026 season come to an end in the first round of the Petitt Cup playoffs in a 3-2 loss to Forest City. Drue Saenz had put the Zookeepers ahead with a two-run single in the top of the third inning. But the Owls recovered and got a walk-off win in the ninth on an unearned run. Wyatt Bush and Chazz Grossington each had a single for the only other Zookeepers hits. Olmeda Quezada pitched seven innings, allowing six hits and two runs with five strikeouts.

■ Bush was 2-for-4 with two RBIs as the Zookeepers concluded the regular season with a 5-3 win over High Point-Thomasville. Brady McGuire and Grossington both had two hits while Thomas Cano-Piszel had a two-run single. Abriel Figueroa allowed a run and three hits with eight strikeouts in four innings. Nathan McKissick pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts. Braxton Walker earned a save by pitching a scoreless ninth inning with two strikeouts.

American Legion baseball 

■ The American Legion World Series is being played in Keefer Stadium in Shelby beginning with Pool Play from Thursday to Sunday, Aug. 13-16, streaming live on ESPN Plus. 

The semifinals will be played on Monday, Aug. 17, broadcast and streamed on ESPNU. And the Championship game will be played on Tuesday, Aug. 18, broadcast on ESPNU.

Keefer Stadium is located at 230 E Dixon Blvd., Shelby. 

Tickets are $45 general admission for all 15 games, $60 for reserved seating for all 15 games, $75 for box seating for all 15 games, $400 for rocking chair seating for all 15 games. $10 for an adult day pass to attend all games on a single day, and $5 for a student day pass for ages 6 through college.

Day tickets require a wristband at the gate for re-entry. 

ADA seating is available to the right and left of the Press Box — ask an usher for assistance. 

Tickets can be purchased at www.alws.us/tickets.

Brooks Brannon update 

■ The former Randleman star, who has been converted from catcher to first base, is batting .273 with 18 home runs and 57 RBIs in 267 at-bats for the Portland (Maine) Sea Dogs. Portland is the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, who drafted Brannon in the ninth round in 2022.

Brannon blasted his 18th homer of the season on Friday, Aug. 7, in the Sea Dogs’ 7-4 win over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. In a game earlier in the season at New Hampshire, Brannon, who was Sea Dogs Player of the month in July, crushed a 453-foot homer that hit a hotel outside the stadium.

Tanner Marsh update 

■ The former Asheboro and Liberty University standout was drafted in the ninth round by the A’s and assigned to their Rookie League team in Scottsdale, Arizona on July 29. The Rookie League season is over and Marsh did not appear in any games.