Emperors Eke Out Double-Header Sweep

ROME- Luis Encarnacion, Walker Janek, and Garret Guillemette all parked Home Runs on Sunday in one of the most difficult hitter’s ballparks in the South Atlantic League; AdventHealt Stadium in Rome, Georgia. Encarnacion even hit two of them. Despite the hard-fought effort, the Rome Emperors received just enough timely breaks to best Asheville 4-1 in Game One and 8-7 in Game Two.

Encarnacion’s solo Home Run was the extent of Asheville’s offense in the first contest; however, his Home Run in Game Two helped the Tourists erase a three-run deficit and take a one-run lead. After Rome tied the game, they received a massive break in the form of a highly questionable balk that was called on Layne Henderson. Layne and the Tourists had the go-ahead runner picked off second base, yet the call led to a pair of Emperors runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Guillemette struck in the top of the seventh with the team down to their final two outs. Garret crushed a game-tying Home Run over the LF wall that forced extras. Unfortunately, the Tourists bad luck in extra-innings sprang up again. Asheville’s automatic runner did make it to third, but was thrown out at home plate trying to score on a wild pitch. Ironically, Rome pushed the game-winning run across on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth.

Next up for the Tourists is the back half of their road trip; a six-game series against the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Game One in Greensboro will begin at 6:30pm ET on Tuesday evening.