Local Sports Roundup for July 30

As Randolph County Post 45 awaits the start of the American Legion Southeast Regional set to begin Aug. 6 at McCrary Park, all eyes turned to the Asheboro ZooKeepers’ Coastal Plain League team to see if they could hang on down the stretch for a playoff berth. After a hot start, they’ve been fading of late, but were still just a half-game behind the Boone Bigfoots for third place going into Monday’s games. The regular season ends on Saturday, Aug. 2.

ZooKeepers Baseball

■ Rylen Stockton was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs in the ZooKeepers’ 14-9 loss to the High Point-Thomasville HiToms. Jake Griffith blasted a two-run homer and Boaz Harper was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Yariel Diaz was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Seojun Oh went 1-for-4 with two RBIs. Ryan Albin and Nick O’Brien both had two hits. Eli Hammill was 1-for-4 with an RBI.

■ Oh and Albin were both 2-for-5 with two RBIs in the ZooKeepers’ 5-3 win over the Martinsville Mustangs. Sal Laimo added an RBI double. Rafael Soto and O’Brien both had two hits. Billy Rozakis pitched seven innings, allowing eight hits and three runs with four strikeouts, to pick up the win. Former Randleman star Hunter Atkins, in his first pitching appearance of the season, worked two scoreless innings with two strikeouts to earn a save.

■ Davis Germann went 4-for-4 with four RBIs as the ZooKeepers edged High Point-Thomasville 11-10 in 10 innings. Asheboro was cruising with a 5-2 lead going into the ninth, but the HiToms scored three in the ninth to send the game into extra innings, then added five in the top of the 10th to take a 10-5 lead. But the ZooKeepers responded with six runs in the bottom of the inning, with O’Brien ending it with a walk-off two-run single. Albin and Diaz were both 2-for-6 with an RBI. Griffith was 2-for-4. Laimo and Oh both had a hit and an RBI. Kerry Herndon-Brown started and pitched five scoreless innings.

Former Randleman standout Drake Purvis started on the mound for High Point-Thomasville, pitching 4 2/3 innings. Purvis gave up seven hits and four earned runs while striking out eight and walking four. Purvis is 0-3 with an 8.10 ERA in five starts for the HiToms.

ZooKeepers’ 3-0 loss to Martinsville. Hiroyuki Yamada allowed a run on five hits in seven innings.

■ Germann was 2-for-4 with a solo home run in the Zookeepers’ 10-5 loss to the Lexington County Blowfish. Reuben Livingstone and Griffith both had two hits and an RBI. Oh contributed a two-run single. 

■ Oh and Griffith were both 3-for-4 and Laimo scored four runs in the Zoo-Keepers’ 13-7 win over the Martinsville Mustangs Sunday night. Asheboro blew the game open late after falling behind 6-3 in the fourth inning. Oh, Griffith, Germann and Stockton each had two RBIs. David McGeorge pitched 5 1/3 innings in relief for the win, allowing one unearned run and striking out 5.

Brooks Brannon update

■ The former Randleman star and ninth-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox is batting .127 with a home run and four RBIs in 15 games for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. Brannon went 2-for-4 with a double and RBI in Friday’s game with Richmond. For the season, Brannon is batting a combined .241 with 6 home runs and 35 RBIs for the High-A Greenville Drive and Portland. He was promoted on June 24.