(75-57) Durham Bulls 2, (59-75) Gwinnett Stripers 6 – F/7
•Carlos Rodríguez, LF-RF: 1-for-3, BB, R, .253/.330/.338
•Jesús Bastidas, 2B: 0-for-2, R, 2 BB, .276/.333/.437
•Jason Delay, C: 2-for-3, 2B, RBI, .213/.280/.257
•José Suarez, SP: 6IP 5H 2ER 1BB 8K, 3.29 ERA
•Blake Burkhalter, RP: 1IP 0H 0R 0BB 0K, 3.55 ERA
Josè Suarez pitched a phenomenal game to everyone not named Cooper Hummel, who homered twice. Ever since August 1st, José has been extremely big for the Stripers – making five starts, and coming out of the bullpen twice. Suarez sequenced his pitches very well using his four seam, two seam, changeup, slider, and curveball, sitting in the low 90s with his fastball. Because it was a double header the game lasted just seven inning, so after Suarez was taken out Blake Burkhalter threw four pitches, recorded three outs, and secured the game one win.
The Stripers only recorded one extra-base hit, but went 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position to score all of their runs. It started with a bases loaded RBI single by Eddys Leonard in the bottom of the first. An RBI single to right by David McCabe gave them the lead in the third, and with Luke Waddell going first to third, he was able to score on a sacrifice fly by the next hitter – Eddys Leonard to put Gwinnett up 3-1. The trend continued in the fourth when Jason Delay singled to center and drove in Matthew Batten to go up 4-1. That brings us to the bottom of the fifth when Conner Capel got involved in the fun and hit a two run single to put the Stripers up 6-2.
(75-58) Durham Bulls 1, (60-75) Gwinnett Stripers 2 – F/7
•David McCabe, DH: 1-for-2, R, BB, .204/.306/.333
•Matthew Batten, 3B: 2-for-3, HR, 2 RBI, R, .200/.270/.342
•Nathan Wiles, SP: 5IP 4H 0R 0BB 5K, 3.09 ERA
•Davis Daniel, RP: 1IP 1H 0R 0BB 2K, 5.29 ERA
Pitching was the theme of game two as the two teams combined for a total of 12 hits. Nathan Wiles had one of his best starts since joining the Braves organization – with five shutout innings, allowing just four singles, and lowering his season ERA to 3.09. He was replaced by Hunter Stratton, who was recently sent to Gwinnett, and Stratton was effective outside of one hitter, when he gave up a solo homer to Kameron Misner to tie the game in the 6th inning. Davis Daniel then needed just three pitches (10 strikes) to work the final frame of the game and give the Stripers the double header sweep.
Much like the Bulls offense, there wasn’t much going for the Stripers who had six hits themselves, with five being singles, and walked just one time. They went just 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position – indicating how much of a pitchers duel this game really was. The Stripers went up in the second inning after a fly out by Matthew Batten scored David McCabe who was on third. There wasn’t much offense afterwards until the seventh inning when Matthew Batten once again provided the spark with this walk off solo homer.
(73-56) Montgomery Biscuits 10, (56-70) Columbus Clingstones 4 – F/10
•Patrick Clohisy, LF: 3-for-5, 2B, R, .280/.336/.400
•Cody Milligan, RF: 2-for-3, R, BB .182/.328/.255
•Cal Conley, 2B: 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .196/.257/.240
•Ian Mejia, SP: 6IP 8H 2ER 2BB 3K, 2.44 ERA
It’s crazy to think that this game was tied 4-4 heading into the 10th inning, with the Clingstones mounting a furious comeback, only to completely fall apart in extra innings and losing by 6. It was another strong start for Ian Mejia who gave up more hits than usual, including three extra-base hits but yielded just two earned runs over six innings of work. The Clingstones went down 2-0 in the fourth after two of those extra-base hits scored a pair of runs. Ian settled in and was able to pretty much cruise the final two innings (outside of a ground rule double) to give the Clingstones a chance. After Ian, it was Cory Wall who came in and worked the seventh and eighth – surrendering a run in the seventh, and working around a double in the eighth. It was then Shay Schanaman time who came into the game in the ninth and struggled, hitting the lead off man, allowing a stolen base, and throwing a wild pitch to let him get to third. That runner would eventually score, pushing the Montgomery lead to 4-0 with just 1 out. Luckily, no more damage was done as Shay was able record the final two outs of the ninth.
We will start our discussion about the Clingstones offense right there, because until the ninth there is virtually nothing to talk about outside of a couple of singles, and double. The fun started with two outs in the ninth when E.J. Exposito flied out to left field to score Patrick Clohisy and bridge the gap to 4-1. The next hitter, Adam Zebrowski, connected on ninth homer of the season to make it 4-2. Drew Compton then followed him up with a double of his own, before being driven to third by a Cody Milligan single. Cal Conley then his this bases clearing triple, again with two outs, to tie the game at 4 each.
Unfortunately Ambioris Tavarez would fly out to end the threat but ultimately the game was tied at 4-4 and Columbus was feeling reinvigorated.
That good feeling would last two pitches, as Shay would give up the lead on a one run double to the first batter of the inning. The first SIX batters would get on base, five against Shay, ultimately swinging the game back into the hands of the Biscuits, giving them the 10-4 lead that they would ultimately hold on to.
(56-69) Rome Emperors 3, (64-64) Hub City Spartanburgers
•Isaiah Drake, CF: 3-for-5, .297/.345/.333
•Cody Miller, SS: 1-for-4, RBI, BB, .296/.333/.444
•Colby Jones, 2B: 1-for-5, R, .259/.328/.278
•Herick Hernandez, SP: 6IP 2H 1ER 3BB 6K, 3.57 ERA
The Herick Hernandez show continued into September with another outstanding start, going six innings and striking out six while giving up just one run (solo homer), and lowering his ERA on the season to 3.57. That’s now six straight starts of two earned runs or less for Herick (he gave up two runs in one start), who has seen his ERA drop from 4.60 to 3.57 over those six starts. When he’s able to stay within, or close to the zone, he’s simply been unhittable, generating 15+ whiffs in numerous starts. He’s now over 100 innings pitched, has a strikeout rate of 11 K/9, and is really hitting his stride as a pitcher. There has been lots of speculation on if his role is better suited as a reliever because of his command issues, but it’s hard to move someone when they are so overpowering for such a long stint of time. 2026 will be a massive year for Herick as he looks to really establish himself as a starting pitching prospect in the Braves organization.
After dominating hitters for six innings, he was removed from the game with the game tied at 1-1 each, thanks to a Cody Miller RBI single in the fifth inning that initially gave the Emperors the lead. Rob Griswold would come in and pitch the seventh and eighth innings – giving up just one hit while absolutely pounding the zone (16 strikes on 19 pitches). This allowed the Emperors offense to find its groove in the ninth inning when a fielding error by the center fielder allowed Keshawn Ogans to score from first to give the Emperors a 2-1 lead. With Cooper McMurray on second, he would then take third on a wild pitch and come around to score on a Mac Guscette sacrifice fly to put the Emperors up 3-1.
Justin Long would come in and pitch the ninth inning, walking the first batter he saw, then immediately getting a double play to erase the walk. He would then hit the third batter, to make things interesting yet again, before ultimately striking out the final hitter of the ball game and giving Rome the win.
(62-67) Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 0, (66-60) Augusta GreenJackets 7
•Dixon Williams, 2B: 2-for-5, RBI, .274/.386/.476
•Owen Carey, CF: 3-for-5, 3R, .260/.333/.344
•Juan Mateo, 3B: 2-for-4, RBI, BB, R, .236/.304/.273
•Tanner Smith, C: 2-for-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, .154/.214/.615
•Cam Caminiti, SP: 6IP 2H 0R 3BB 7K, 2.08 ERA
•Kade Woods, RP: 3IP 3H 0R 2BB 5K, 2.63 ERA
It was a pitching masterclass as Cam Caminiti and Kade Woods combined for the shutout in the GreenJackets 7-0 victory. Cam, in what is likely his final game of the season, put together yet ANOTHER dominant outing – striking out seven over six innings of shutout ball. If there’s been anything to be critical of for Cam this season, it has been the walk rate as it sits at 4.15 BB/9, but other than that he has been worth the price of admission pretty much the entire season – showing the baseball world just how good he is. What’s been even crazier to watch develop is the fact that he’s mainly been fastball/sweeper, as the Braves have taken away his curveball to have him focus on the sweeper/slider. Normally, this would lead to average or below average results for a 19 year old however all that has done is forced Cam to be able to locate his sweeper to all parts of the zone, to left and right handed batters. He’s developed yet another plus pitch that he can locate well, and pair with his 94-96 MPH fastball that he locates extremely well in the upper third for whiffs. Overall, enough can’t be said about the progress Cam made when he joined full season ball. He likely opens 2026 as one of baseball’s top pitching prospects, and it will be extremely interesting to see where he starts, and finishes the season.
He was relieved by Kade Woods who put up three dominant innings himself. That is especially significant because Kade had 3.2 innings of work the previous two years COMBINED, so to see Kade be able to navigate three innings without seeing his stuff diminish has been something to see. There’s no denying his enormous arm talent, the question is and will be can Kade stay healthy and so far, so good.
Offensively, the night belonged to Tanner Smith who connected on a pair of homers, one in the second and one in the fourth – both off of different pitchers. 2-through-5 in the lineup (Williams, Carey, Mateo) went a combined 7-for-14, scoring four times and driving in two runs. Also of note, Joe Olsavsky and John Estevez each walked three times.
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