Hoptown starting pitcher Marcus Goodpastor tossed seven strong innings on Saturday night, and Luis Vergara stayed red-hot at the plate with a pair of home runs to send the Hoppers to a 4-1 victory over the Franklin Duelers.
Coming off one win in four tries, the Hoppers improve to 11-14 and 6-7 at Tiger Field. They begin a stretch of four games on the road with a trip to Fulton on Sunday.
The Duelers’ second straight loss leaves them at 17-8 and drops them out of the top spot in the South Division. Full Count Rhythm topped the Louisville Jockeys for its sixth straight victory to take a half-game lead over Franklin.
Vergara got the Hoppers started with a two-out solo shot in the bottom of the 1st, then stretched the margin to three runs with a bomb over the left-field fence in the 3rd. With four home runs in his last five games, Vergara is now tied for 3rd in the OVL with six total.
Goodpastor scattered five hits with a walk and three strikeouts over seven frames before running into trouble in the 8th. A single and an error left runners at the corners with no outs, and Aaron Moss came on in relief. A fielder’s choice brought in the Duelers’ only run, but after a pair of walks loaded the bases, Moss coaxed a ground ball to end the inning.
Franklin’s Jonathan Evans represented the tying run when he came to bat with runners on first and second in the top of the 9th. Evans was 3/4 with an RBI already, but Moss struck him out swinging to end the game.
Vergara and Ren Tachioka both finished with three hits for the Hoppers, and Jacob Dupps was two-for-four at the plate.
Jacob Hernandez took the loss for the Duelers. He surrendered three earned runs on nine hits with a walk and four strikeouts over five innings.
