RedWolves back in first place

FLORENCE — The South Division of the Coastal Plain League has a pretty quick elevator.

After being near the ground floor just a few days ago, the RedWolves zipped back to the top with a 5-2 win over the Fayetteville SwampDogs at Legion Field on Monday night.

The victory is the RedWolves’ third straight and gives them a half-game lead over Wilmington in the South.

That’s a big turnaround for a club that lost four straight June 8-11.

“We went from first to fourth in about three days and, three games later, we’re fourth to first,” Florence coach Wes Davis said. “There are going to be ups and downs in a season. You just have to stay steady.

“Our guys were struggling a little bit the first part of last week, but they pushed through it. We’re starting to play a little better. The past few days have been fun.”
The battery of Brad Raj and Richard Pirkle had perhaps the most fun last night.

Making his second start, Raj (1-1) worked six innings, gave up seven hits, two runs, walked none and struck out four. Pirkle, meanwhile, was 2-for-4 with a solo home run.

“Brad showed tonight that he’s not a third baseman that happens to pitch, he’s a pitcher,” Davis said. “He was in the strike zone and challenged hitters. He’s a guy who can be really effective against a team like Fayetteville that likes to play small ball because he can field his position and defend against the bunt.”

Pirkle’s homer, his second of the season, easily cleared the wall in left and gave Florence a 5-1 lead in the fourth.

“Richard got down 0-2 and took the next pitch for a ball. You could tell he was seeing the ball well right there,” Davis said. “He battled back to a 3-2 count, the pitcher made a mistake and he made him pay for it.

“Whenever a hitter feels comfortable and is seeing the ball well, he’s got a chance. And Richard was the definition of that in that at-bat.”

Florence took a 2-0 lead in the first off Fayetteville starter Ryan Daniel (0-1). Barrett Kleinknecht’s RBI single made it 1-0 and Tyler Burnett scored on a double-play ball to make it 2-0.

Fayetteville cut the lead to 2-1 in the second when Matt Skirving singled to right, took second on a bunt, moved to third on a single by Matt Kole and scored on a groundout.

The RedWolves pushed their lead to 4-1 in the second. An RBI single from Drew Haynes made it 3-1 before Kole misplayed a ground ball at first with the bases loaded to make it 4-1.

After Pirkle gave Florence the 5-1 lead with his homer, Fayetteville pulled within 5-2 in the sixth when Skirving belted a towering two-out solo homer to right off Raj.

Brandon Forshee pitched a scoreless seventh for Florence, walking one and striking out one. Steve Neff gave up two hits and struck out two over the eighth and ninth for his first save.

Florence plays at Wilmington tonight at 7 before hosting Wilson on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Notes
Florence’s John Taylor has been named the CPL’s co-pitcher of the week along with Forest City’s Heath Hembree.

In two appearances last week, Taylor pitched nine scoreless innings. On June 8, he tossed a one-hit, seven-inning shutout in a 3-0 win over Columbia in the first game of a doubleheader.

In five outings this summer, Taylor — a Florence native and USC signee — is 1-1 with a 0.44 ERA. In 20 2/3 innings, he’s allowed 11 hits, walked five and struck out 22.