The Charleston RiverDogs erased a three-run deficit in the eighth inning to earn an exhilarating 5-3 win over the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers on Tuesday night, in front of 3,361 fans at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
Starter Dominic Fritton was tremendous, tossing five shutout innings while fanning a career-high seven hitters. He has completed five frames in each of his last two starts.
After Kannapolis pushed across three in the top of the sixth, the RiverDogs began to rally in the bottom of the eighth when Derek Datil and Victor Mesa Jr. tallied back-to-back singles to place runners at first and second.
With one out, Caden Bodine pummeled a three-run homer to right to tie the game at 3-3. With five homers, he is tied with Taitn Gray for the team lead.
Later in the frame, Charleston placed runners at second and third after a Gray triple and Pierce walk. With two outs, Dean Moss grounded a two-run single to push the RiverDogs ahead 5-3.
Bryce Shaffer recorded the final three outs to earn his third save of the season.
With the victory, Charleston moved to 21-13 while Kannapolis fell to 14-20. With Hickory’s loss to Columbia tonight, the RiverDogs hold a three-game lead for first place in the Carolina League South Standings.
The two clubs return to The Joe tomorrow for game two of the series with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:50 on MiLB.TV and the RiverDogs Broadcast Network.
Ballpark Fun:
A crowd of 3,361 fans packed into The Joe on Friday night as the RiverDogs returned home for a celebration dedicated to Golden Retrievers. Dogs filled the ballpark from foul pole to foul pole, wagging tails and barking excitement echoing through the stands. One energetic retriever even stole the spotlight between innings, sprinting across the field to fetch warm-up ground balls away for the Cannon Ballers.
The canine chaos continued all night long as dogs competed in a series of between-inning contests, sending the crowd into laughter and cheers with every competition.
The biggest ovation of the evening came after the bottom of the first inning, when pitcher Aidan Cremarosa and catcher Yirer Garcia were honored for their no-hitter last Friday. The duo received commemorative plaques as fans rose to their feet in applause. Cremarosa soaked in the moment, raising his arms toward the crowd behind the first-base dugout to ignite an even louder roar from the Charleston faithful.