Farris Shines, Emperors Fall In Friday Night Showdown

ROME, GA - Mitch Farris and Luke Young went punch for punch under the Friday night lights of AdventHealth Stadium, and it took six innings for a team to finally crack the run column.

Decked out in their Salute To Service digs, the Rome Emperors locked in with the Wilmington BlueRocks for an old-fashioned pitcher's duel. Cody Gabella would give the ball to Mitch Farris for his AdventHealth Stadium debut. Farris, who was promoted from Low-A Augusta on May 17th, lead the GreenJackets in strikeouts with 37. Farris left Augusta with a 2.38 earned run average over seven games. Of his seven appearances for Augusta, Farris was only the starting pitcher for two of the seven. So Friday night's contest would match Farris's total starts in the Carolina League.

Farris would go to work early on the BlueRocks, retiring the first seven batters he faced on the night. Farris would cruise through the first five frames before Viandel Pena would drive in the game's first run in the top of the sixth inning, giving Wilmington an early lead.

Rome would waste no time in the home half of the sixth, as an EJ Exposito single that scored Sabin Ceballos would knot things up at 1 run each. Rome's first run of the night would get Mitch Farris off the hook for the night, as he would make way for Ellison Joseph to open up the game's seventh frame. Farris would call it a night after turning in six innings of one run ball while fanning five Wilmington batters. He would earn a no decision.

Joseph would run into trouble early as he'd find himself with runners at second and third with no outs in the top of the seventh. Joseph would get out of the situation with minimal damage, allowing only one run.

Despite scoring three more runs, Wilmington would only need the two runs as Rome's offense would fail to plate more than one run throughout the nine-inning contest. The five run to one loss would be Rome's twentieth of the season.

With the series now even, the Emperors turn to Lucas Braun in hopes of evening the series. First pitch is slated for 5:00pm.