Sal Laimo of the Asheboro ZooKeepers beats the throw to first base last week against the Holly Springs Salamanders at McCrary Park. (PJ Ward-Brown / Randolph Record)
ASHEBORO — The Asheboro ZooKeepers have clicked at home and on the road during the first few weeks of the Coastal Plain League baseball season and the results back those up.
While outfielder Kruise Newman racked up one of the special accomplishments in all of the CPL, the ZooKeepers as a whole have been doing much the same.
Asheboro won five of six games across an eight-day period to improve to 13-5.
That stretch was capped by a pair of weekend road victories as part of three road games in a three-night span.
As for Newman, he hit for the cycle in a 6-3 home loss to the Forest City Owls on June 14. He’s the first CPL player since 2019 to hit for a cycle. He was 4-for-4 and scored three runs in that game.
Newman kept it going by driving in four runs the next day in a 12-2 rout of host Martinsville. He had a home run and double in that game. Teammate Cole Kitchens smacked a three-run homer. Connor Darling and Caden Barnett combined on a five-hitter in what became an eight-inning game.
More recently, Newman homered and doubled as ZooKeepers topped the visiting Holly Springs Salamanders 5-1 last week. Seojun Oh and Boaz Harper also homered for Asheboro. Shane Keup was the winning pitcher with three shutout innings of relief. And Gavin Marley notched the last four outs for a save.
In a 13-3, seven-inning romp past the visiting Boone Bigfoots, Nathan Chrismon drove in four runs, Yariel Diaz knocked in three runs and Sal Laimo scored three runs. That pushed Asheboro’s winning streak at McCrary Park to three games before the ZooKeepers hit the road.
They lost 12-5 at Forest City despite Harper’s three runs batted in and Rafael Soto’s three hits.
The ZooKeepers got back on track with Saturday night’s 6-5, 10-inning victory against the Peninsula Pilots.
On Sunday, Asheboro trounced the Tri-City Chili Peppers 16-5 by scoring in all seven innings that were contested. Rylen Stockton drilled a three-run home run among his three hits, while Sam Hunter and Jake Griffith, who also homered, also produced three hits and Harper drove in four runs.
Hiroyuki Yamada threw a complete game for the ZooKeepers.
Early this week, Asheboro has a couple of games on the docket against the High Point-Thomasville HiToms (Monday at home, Wednesday at Thomasville). The ZooKeepers are slated to close out June with three home games – Thursday, Saturday and Monday – amid a five-game span.
They open July’s schedule with next Wednesday night’s home game against the Florence Flamingos. That night (July 2) will involve an Independence Day celebration with postgame fireworks.
