Rome evens the series with big offensive night

ROME, Ga. - A high-scoring Friday night at AdventHealth Stadium saw the Rome Emperors defeat the Asheville Tourists 8-5.

Behind home runs, triples and doubles, the Emperors (1-1) outslugged the Tourists (1-1) to even the series and force a rubber match.

Blasting the first long ball of the season for the Tourists was Narbe Cruz, who ignited the contest’s scoring in the second inning with a shot over the left-center field wall.

The Emperors answered in the bottom of the third with a run-scoring double, followed by a single and a triple that each brought home a run.

Rome broke the game open in the fourth, scoring four more runs, highlighted by a three-run blast from Isaiah Drake.

Asheville’s offense continued in the fifth and sixth innings with an RBI double from Alberto Hernandez and two runs scoring on wild pitches. However, Rome was able to stop the bleeding, thanks in part to Justin Long (W, 1-0) and Riley Frey (S, 1).

In the eighth, Freuddy Batista, coming off a 3-for-4 performance Thursday, smoked an RBI ground-rule double to left-center field to score the final run of the night.

Parker Smith (L, 0-1) got the start in his High-A debut for Asheville. He went four innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits. One error led to three unearned runs, and he walked just one.

Finalizing their three-game series Saturday, Asheville and Rome battle with a series win on the line at 6:45 p.m. ET.