RedWolves get best of SwampDogs

FLORENCE — After facing just one batter Tuesday night, Florence RedWolves right-hander John Taylor looked as if he might be on the way to his worst outing of the summer.

But after giving up a lead-off home run to Jared Humphreys and a one-out single to Brendan Rowland in the first inning, Taylor held the Fayetteville SwampDogs hitless through the sixth en route to a 9-4 win at Legion Field.

In the Coastal Plain League second-half opener for both teams, Taylor wound up allowing two runs (one earned), walking two and striking out four. He’s now 3-2 with a team-best 1.08 ERA.

“John wasn’t as sharp tonight as he’s been, but he was good,” said RedWolves assistant coach Andrew Noble. “He battled with what he had and ended up giving us a quality outing.”

A night after clinching the South division first-half pennant, Fayetteville found itself on the losing end for the fourth time in as many trips to Florence this season.

In three games at Fayetteville this summer, the SwampDogs are 2-1 against the RedWolves.

“Fayetteville is a tough place to play. When we go up there, we really have to battle and compete,” Noble said. “Fayetteville is a good team. We were fortunate tonight to be able to take advantage of the five errors they made, and we played well at home.”

Florence took a 3-1 lead with three unearned runs in the third inning. The big blow came when Fayetteville third baseman Taylor Norfleet fielded a Barrett Kleinknecht bunt with two outs and threw wide of first, allowing two runs to score on the hit and two-base error.

The RedWolves made it 7-1 with four runs in the fourth, highlighted by an RBI single from Herman Petzold and a two-run double from Drew Haynes.

Fayetteville pulled within 7-2 with an unearned run in the sixth before Florence got a sacrifice fly from Tyler Burnett and an RBI single from Myckie Lugbauer in the bottom of the frame for a 9-2 lead.

Eric Grabe and Matt Kole led off the seventh with back-to-back homers for the game’s final margin.

Florence, which finished two games behind Fayetteville in the first half, will play 13 straight days to open the second half. The RedWolves travel to Wilmington tonight before hosting Columbia on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

“Our goal now is to win the second half,” Noble said. “It’s big to get a win here tonight and start the week off right.”