Elder Dominates and Stripers’ Offense Explodes for Four Homers in 12-0 Rout of Nashville

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Power and pitching ruled the night as the Gwinnett Stripers (32-35) bashed a season-high four home runs to back nine strikeouts and 8.0 scoreless innings from Bryce Elder in a 12-0 trouncing of the Nashville Sounds (35-32) on Friday night at Coolray Field.

Decisive Plays: A seven-run second inning blew the game open and featured a two-run double from Nacho Alvarez Jr., a two-run home run by Drake Baldwin (1), and a solo blast by Yuli Gurriel (3). Gwinnett would continue its display of power with a two-run home run by Alvarez Jr. (2) in the fourth inning to push the lead to 9-0. Gurriel struck again in the sixth inning, this time going deep for a three-run home run (4) to give the Stripers a 12-0 lead.

Key Contributors: Alvarez Jr. (3-for-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBIs) and Gurriel (2-for-5, 2 HR, 4 RBIs) led the way for Gwinnett with eight of the 11 RBIs while Baldwin (3-for-5, HR, 2 RBIs) and Ramon Laureano (3-for-4, RBI) had multi-hit efforts. Elder (win, 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 9 SO) has struck out at least nine batters in each of his last three starts. Ben Bowden pitched a perfect ninth. Nashville got one extra base hit, a double in the fourth inning by Tyler Black.

Noteworthy: In the month of June, Elder is 3-0 with a 0.82 ERA (2 ER in 22.0 IP), with just four walks to 29 strikeouts. Gurriel is just the second Stripers player with a multi-homer game this season, joining Sandy Leon (2 on April 9 at Omaha). Through three games with Gwinnett, Baldwin is batting .500 (6-for-12) with a home run and two RBIs while Alvarez Jr. is batting .357 (5-for-14) with a double, two home runs and seven RBIs. Luke Williams saw his 12-game hit streak snapped, going 0-for-4.

Next Game (Saturday, June 15): Gwinnett vs. Nashville, 6:05 p.m. ET at Coolray Field. Broadcast: 5:50 p.m. ET on MyCountry993.com at 6:00 p.m. ET on Peachtree Sports Network. LHP Dylan Dodd (2-6, 5.01 ERA) will start for Gwinnett against RHP Chad Patrick (5-1, 2.87 ERA) for the Sounds. Performance Food Group is helping the Stripers give away a bobblehead of World Series Champion, All-Star, Silver Slugger, and former Gwinnett Striper Austin Riley to the first 2,000 fans at Coolray Field