Borden Belts First Pro Home Run, Batista Shines in Debut

WINSTON-SALEM- The Asheville Tourists bounced back in a big way on Saturday night with an 11-3 victory over the Winston-Salem Dash. Tim Borden II delivered a perfect day at the plate including his first career Home Run and Edinson Batista pitched five scoreless, hitless innings in his Tourists debut.

Asheville built a 5-0 lead with a two-out rally in the third inning. Kenedy Corona raced home from third on a wild pitch to open the scoring. Joey Loperfido hit an RBI single and Cristian Gonzalez followed with an RBI double. Borden then lined a two-run single into centerfield.

Loperfido crossed the plate once more in the fifth inning on a Dash error and Borden added a two-run Home Run over the left field wall. Colin Barber’s sacrifice fly in the sixth made the score 9-0.

Winston-Salem pushed a pair of runs across in the bottom of the sixth; however, Loperfido answered with a two-run double in the eighth. Borden reached base five times and Gonzalez finished 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Corona became the first Tourists player this season to record two triples in the same game.

Batista pitched very well in his debut. The 20-year-old right hander pitched five hitless innings; however, he did issue a walk in all five frames. Christian Mejias battled through 3.1 innings before Jose Betances recorded the final two outs of the game, both on strikeouts.

The Tourists wrap up their six-game series against the Dash on Sunday afternoon. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00pm.

Tourists Game Recaps are presented by Jackson Electrical Contractors, Inc