Boaz Harper, who plays collegiately for North Carolina, takes a swing during a game for the Asheboro ZooKeepers last week. (PJ Ward-Brown / Randolph Record)
ASHEBORO — The Asheboro ZooKeepers have excelled in several areas early in the season and the team is still coming together.
Third-year coach Korey Dunbar said the opening stretch of the season has been encouraging. Through Sunday, the ZooKeepers held a 6-2 record in the Coastal Plain League.
“Trying to coach these guys up on a daily basis,” Dunbar said. “It all boils down to these guys doing the work. They’re all in and they want to be here.”
Outfielder Davis Germann would like to build on his three-homer game in the season’s first week. That topped his two-homer outing during the college season for Morehead State.
“Our coaches just preach to be on time for the pitch they’re most likely going to throw,” he said of the message from the ZooKeepers staff. “I just learned to rotate pretty well and get the bat to the ball.”
ZooKeepers infielder Nick O’Brien said he likes the early vibes within the team.
“We’ve grown close as a team so far and I think we’re just having fun together,” O’Brien said. “Obviously, we take things very seriously, but we’re having fun while doing it. We have a lot of talented players on the team, so I think that helps, too. We’re excited to play every day.”
There were still about a dozen players expected to arrive to join the ZooKeepers when the team had a busy stretch last week.
Missing one game last week were Barton players Yariel Diaz, Sal Laimo and Joe Rauscher. They were on a college visit to USC Aiken, where now-former Barton coach Keith Gorman has taken a head coaching job – going from one Division II school to another.
A 13-4 home victory against the Wilmington Sharks included a three-run, first-inning home run from O’Brien.
That game vs. Wilmington was attended by CPL commissioner Chip Allen and deputy commissioner Justin Sellers as they made their rounds to visit ballparks in the league.
Meanwhile, Owen Blackledge, who played as a ZooKeepers outfielder the past two seasons, joined the team in a coaching capacity as an assistant coach. His arrival was delayed as Lenoir-Rhyne competed in the Division II World Series in Cary through most of last week before being eliminated.
Blackledge was finishing his collegiate playing career with the Bears. He posted a .366 batting average with 14 home runs and 52 runs batted in across 65 games this year. He batted 6-for-18 in the World Series.
Lenoir-Rhyne pitchers Caleb Cockerham and Gavin Marley also are on the roster for the ZooKeepers. They both threw in the team’s final game last Thursday against eventual national runner-up Central Missouri last Thursday.
Here are some nuggets regarding recent results:
** Seojun Oh’s ninth-inning single drove in the winning run as the ZooKeepers posted two runs in the final inning for a 4-3 victory against the Boone Bigfoots last week.
** Rauscher pitched four innings without allowing an earned run, Jeremiah Hampton was the winning pitcher and Mason McDaniel tossed four innings for a save in a 7-2 road victory against the Florence Flamingos on Friday night. Cooper McKenzie drove in two runs.
** In Saturday night’s 3-1 home loss to the Martinsville Mustangs, Asheboro’s lone run came on Kruise Newman’s sacrifice fly. Hiroyuki Yamada took the loss.
** Oh drove in two runs and Boaz Harper rapped three hits, including two doubles, in Sunday’s 8-4 road victory against the Holly Springs Salamanders. Nathanael Volk was the winning pitcher with three innings of scoreless relief.
