Williams and Price Go Deep but Tourists Fall 8-5

ASHEVILLE- The Asheville Tourists saw their three-game home win streak snapped Thursday night in a closely contested loss to the Rome Emperors 8-5. Asheville fell behind early, rallied to tie the game on multiple occasions, and eventually fell in the end. The Tourists still lead the series two games to one.

Rome used three runs in the top of the first, on only one hit, to build an early lead. Jeron Williams plated Asheville’s first run of the game with an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth. Collin Price hit a two-run Home Run in the next inning and John Garcia added an RBI double. The score was tied 4-4 after five.

Both teams exchanged runs in the sixth. Williams led off the bottom half with his first Home Run of the season. The Emperors took the lead for good on a two-out, two-run double in the top of the seventh; then, tacked on an insurance run in the ninth.

Williams, Garcia, and Tyler Whitaker all finished with two hits. Edinson Batista went five plus innings and struck out eight. The right-hander was charged with five runs; however, he has still been one of the best pitchers in the league to begin the season.

Asheville and Rome are back in action on Friday night with the first pitch scheduled for 6:35pm ET.