Win Scott delivers a pitch for the Asheboro ZooKeepers. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
ASHEBORO – The Asheboro ZooKeepers had three players selected for this week’s Coastal Plain League All-Star Game.
First baseman Tyler McPeak and pitchers Jacob Dienes and Win Scott were set to participate in two days of activities at Lexington, S.C. The Lexington County Blowfish were the host team for the All-Star events.
McPeak, a graduate student at Lenoir-Rhyne, has been one of the league’s top power hitters. Dienes and Scott are both rising juniors at North Carolina State.
The Asheboro trio will be on the West Division team.
The East Division team had Morehead City’s Trent Youngblood tagged as one if its starting outfielders. The player for Transylvania represented the ZooKeepers as an infielder in last year’s All-Star event. This year, he has been among the CPL leaders in doubles and runs scored.
The ZooKeepers are back in action later this week. They have home games Friday night (vs. High Point-Thomasville HiToms) and Saturday night (vs. Wilson Tobs).
Ups and downs
Something got into the ZooKeepers’ bats last week. They won a non-league game against the Wake Forest Fungo by 8-3 and then kept it going.
Asheboro had two CPL games end early in seven innings because of the mercy rule.
The first of those came last Wednesday night against the Forest City Owls, who were first-half West Division champions. The 14-3 romp included home runs by Alex Lodise and Todd Hudson. Owen Blackledge had three hits, including a two-run single.
The ZooKeepers smashed the host Boone Bigfoots 11-0 on Friday night, aided by a seven-run second inning. Ethan Snyder threw six shutout innings.
In between the routs, Asheboro won 10-8 against the host Martinsville Mustangs, propelled by a six-run eighth inning. That frame began with the ZooKeepers facing a 7-3 hole.
Yet there was trouble by the weekend in games at McCrary Park, where the team’s five-game winning streak (four in CPL play) ended.
The High Point-Thomasville HiToms topped the ZooKeepers 12-6 on Saturday night despite three hits and two runs batted in from Lodise.
On Sunday, Martinsville prevailed 13-11 despite Lodise tripling and homering on his way to four RBI.
Asheboro was unable to protect a 9-5 lead through six innings. McPeak, Jarrett Pokrovsky and Mayson Dear all drove in two runs.
Then the ZooKeepers went to the All-Star break coming off Monday night’s 12-2 loss at Martinsville.
