Just Peachy: Duraznos Ride Pitching in 3-1 Win Over Llamas

ROME, Ga – Drue Hackenberg’s six innings of one-run baseball paired with timely hits from Carlos Arroyo and E.J. Exposito lifted the Duraznos over the Llamas Saturday evening, securing the club’s first ever Copa win.

Hackenberg retired, in order, the first nine Llamas that came to the plate. It took an error by Rome’s defense in the fourth to plate a run against Hackenberg who gave up just two hits all night. It was the former Hokies second winning decision against Hickory already this season. Jared Johnson walked three in relief of Hackenberg but managed to throw two scoreless innings before turning things over to Rob Griswold who notched his first save of the season.

A two-base error on the Llamas’ third baseman put Ethan Workinger in scoring position with nobody out in the third. Workinger would score the very next at-bat on a Sabin Ceballos single through the middle. After Hackenberg’s earned run the fourth, Justin Janas answered with a one-out double to right field and would score on a two-out single to center from Carlos Arroyo. Exposito’s second homer of the series and fifth of year extended Rome’s lead by one in the sixth and would be all the staff needed to bring home the win. Expo is still the only Emperor to homer at home this season, now with three.

With a full game up on Bowling Green, the division leading Emperors look to take the series tomorrow against the Crawdads. The first pitch is set for 1:00pm EDT on Sunday Funday presented by AdventHealth.