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David Dahl went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run and Kyle Freeland tossed five innings of two-run ball to lead Low-A Asheville to an 8-3 victory in Game 1 of its best-of-five South Atlantic League playoff series against Savannah.
Dahl (PuRP No. 2) added a single and a double to his sixth-inning home run, which broke open a three-run game. Freeland (PuRP No. 7) pitched well enough to win behind an impressive offensive output that saw the Tourists rack up 15 hits. The 2014 first rounder worked around a first-inning solo home run to limit the damage to two runs on six hits, and a large reason for that is Freeland didn't walk anybody and induced nine ground-ball outs while throwing 51 of 70 pitches for strikes.
Raimel Tapia (PuRP No. 5) added three hits and scored three runs for the Tourists. Fellow PuRPs Ryan McMahon (No. 6) and Correlle Prime (No. 23) pitched in a couple of hits apiece, as did honorable mention PuRPs Jose Briceno and Emerson Jimenez. Briceno knocked in three runs.
Asheville and Savannah have a day off before resuming the series on Friday. Antonio Senzatela, who finished the regular season 15-2 with a 3.11 ERA, will take the mound for the Tourists.
Tulsa offense falters in loss
Double-A Tulsa managed just five singles behind starting pitcher Eddie Butler in a 4-1 loss to Arkansas in Game 1 of a best-of-five Texas League playoff series.
Butler (PuRP No. 3) pitched OK, but not well enough to mitigate the offense's poor performance. The 23-year-old right-hander allowed a pair of runs on six hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out three. Butler didn't do a tremendous job of throwing strikes, getting them on just 49 of 86 pitches.
Taylor Featherston (PuRP No. 26) and Brian Humphries had two hits apiece. Trevor Story (PuRP No. 4) went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
Tyler Anderson (PuRP No. 11; 1.98 regular-season ERA) will start for Tulsa in Game 2 on Thursday.
Late home run dooms Grand Junction
Rockies reliever Gavin Glanz served up a two-out home run to Orem's Andrew Daniel in the bottom of the seventh inning to send GJ to a loss. The long ball spoiled a solid outing from 2014 third rounder Sam Howard, who allowed only two runs in six innings.
The Rockies had only four hits, two of which came off the bat of No. 9 hitter Luis Jean. Kevin Padlo (PuRP No. 30) had a rough night, finishing 0-for-4 with four strikeouts out of the cleanup spot.
Grand Junction closes out its season on Thursday in Orem. If they can get a win, the Rockies will finish with the best overall record in the Pioneer League despite being shut out of postseason play due to not finishing with the best record in their division in either half of the season.