Emperors Survive Extras, Capture Fifth Straight Win

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SAL Rome Emperors

Emperors Survive Extras, Capture Fifth Straight Win

April 23, 2025 - South Atlantic League (SAL)
Rome Emperors News Release


WINSTON-SALEM, NC - It took eight scoreless innings for the first run to cross the plate Wednesday night and both clubs resisted a shutout in the ninth, forcing extras where the Emperors prevailed to win their fifth straight ball game, 2-1.

It was a dominant effort for Rome's game two starter, Garrett Baumann. The 6-foot-8 right hander struggled in Winston-Salem back on April 5th, seeing seven earned runs cross the plate and getting just ten outs in the game. Wednesday was a different story for Atlanta's no.8 prospect, as Baumann scattered three Winston-Salem hits over six shutout innings, walking no one and punching out three. Of Baumann's 79 pitches, 57 landed for strikes (72%).

The start Lucas Gordon put together was nothing to scoff at either. Baumann's counterpart lasted 5.0 innings, only giving up singles to Lizandro Espinoza, Joe Olsavsky, and Bryson Horne. All of which came in different innings. Titus Dumitru kept his nine-game hit streak alive with a line drive single off Clete Hartzog upon Gordon's exit in the sixth. But, up until the ninth inning, Rome never sent more than four batters to plate in any one inning Wednesday night.

The top of the ninth inning saw Will Verdung extend his hit streak to six-games (second-longest Active streak in SAL) on a one-out single to shortstop. Bryson Horne's line drive to right in the next at-bat would have scored Verdung for first had it not bounded over the outfield wall for a ground-rule double. So, with runners on second and third and one down, Joe Olsavsky's ground ball to third base allowed Verdung to hustle home and beat the throw from Sam Antonacci.

Winston-Salem responded with a run of their own in the home half of the ninth inning to put the Emperors in extras for the first time this season and a baserunning mishap almost spoiled Rome's chances of scoring the ghost runner. A ground ball to short off the bat of Jace Grady resulted in a 6-5 putout of the ghost runner, Justin Janas. Grady's speed allowed him to steal second, move to third on an infield single from Carlos Arroyo, and score on Lizandro Espinoza's sacrifice fly.

The Dash committed a similar error in the bottom of the tenth when their inserted runner was tagged out at home on a ground ball to short, effectively ending Winston-Salem's chances at extending the game.

Over the current five-game winning streak, Rome's pitching has thrived, combining for a 2.74 ERA over 46.0 innings and seeing just one ball leave the yard. The series in Winston-Salem continues on Thursday at 6:30PM ET.

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