Pineville Porcupines drop a game late to the Honeycrisps, losing 3-1

Pineville Porcupines RHP Hank Bright (#30)

The Pineville Porcupines looked to extend their divisional win streak to six games and to retain their second place spot in the Mountain Division standings with a victory over the Hendersonville Honeycrisps, but came up just short of their goal in the 9th inning.

The game looked to be a pitching duel as RHP Connor Facey was dealing for the Honeycrisps, not allowing a baserunner (excluding a man who reached on an error) until the 4th and not allowing a hit or a run until the fifth inning.

Facey would end the day allowing just one hit, two walks, and one unearned run while striking out eight in just over six innings of work.

On the other side of the diamond, RHP Hank Bright was answering the bell for Pineville, bending but never breaking as he allowed three hits, one walk, and zero runs in four innings of work.

LHP Tucker Gandy would then come in for just over two innings and allow no traffic on the basepaths, allowing zero baserunners in his time on the mound while striking out a pair.

Pineville Porcupines LHP Tucker Gandy (#11)

Thanks in part to these efforts, the game remained a 1-0 Porcupine lead heading into the ninth inning when things began to fall apart for Pineville. RHP Aiden Vandenbroek, who was able to work out of a jam by forcing a double play in the eighth, melted down at the mound in his next frame.

Vandenbroek began the ninth inning by allowing a lead off double to LF Walker Fox before proceeding to allow four-straight to reach after that hit, facing five batters in the inning without recording a single out.

C Gaven Sears, in his first game for Hendersonville, would knock Fox in with an RBI single and after a walk and a couple of HBPs, the bases were loaded with zero outs and the Honeycrisps were in front 2-1.

After an unceremonious exit by Vandbroek, RHP Liam Sharer came in and salvaged the situation, allowing a lead off RBI walk before striking out the side to send the game to the bottom of the ninth with the Porcs trailing 3-1.

Unfortunately for the Porcs, they could not muster up any kind of offense, as they went three up and three down in the final frame as Hendersonville stole one, winning the ballgame 3-1.

The loss snapped Pineville’s five-game divisional game win streak and four-game winning streak as they dropped down to an overall record of 14-14 and a divisional record of 16-15. The Porcupines also dropped down to 1-5 when facing the Honeycrisps this season.

Thankfully, because the Lake Norman HarborHippos did not play a divisional game since their loss to Pineville, the Porcupines retained their second place spot in the division, for now.

Looking ahead, the Porcs will take on those same HarborHippos for the second time this week on Thursday at 7:00 P.M. at Jack D. Hughes Memorial Stadium. After that, the Porcupines will have two more consecutive games at home to end the regular season.