RedWolves start season with win

COLUMBIA — Barrett Kleinknecht knows a fat pitch when he sees one.

On the first pitch of the sixth inning, Kleinknecht got a changeup in the heart of the plate from Tyler McBride and lined it over the wall in left to break a 2-2 tie and send the Florence RedWolves to a 5-2 Coastal Plain League win over the Columbia Blowfish on Wednesday in the season opener for both teams.

“I was looking off speed. I figured he wasn’t going to give me anything good to hit first pitch,” Kleinknecht said. “I waited back, it hung up there a little bit and I put a good swing on it.

“Tyler didn’t make many mistakes tonight, but that was one. You have to capitalize on that pitch because you’re not going to get another mistake like that from him in the same at-bat. He’s a good pitcher.”

McBride said he knew he had put the pitch in a bad spot as soon as it left his hand.

“Barrett likes to swing at the first pitch,” said McBride, who’s in his third CPL season and played for the RedWolves in 2006. “I was trying to leave it down and away, but it ended up being a changeup right over the middle and he was sitting on it.”

McBride retired the next two batters he faced before being chased when Curtis Murphy and Herman Petzold hit back-to-back doubles to give Florence a 4-2 lead.

In 5 2/3 innings, McBride gave up six hits, four runs, walked two and struck out three.

Florence made it 5-2 in the eighth when Preston Shuey reached on a one-out walk and scored on a double to left by Richard Pirkle.

John Taylor came on for Florence starter Nick Gillung in the sixth and shut out the Blowfish over the final four innings for the save. Taylor gave up three hits, walked three and struck out seven.

Taylor’s outing is a boost for Florence’s pitching staff, which is short-handed due to some pitchers still participating in pro workouts and NCAA tournaments.

“I was told I was going to be first in relief, but I didn’t really expect to go four innings,” Taylor said. “(Assistant coach Andrew Noble) wasn’t really saying much to me between innings, so I took that as I was going back out there.

“Before the last inning, he asked if I was OK. I gave him the green light, got back out there and got the save.”

Noble said using just two pitchers to pick up a win in the season opener is huge.

“John came in and really gave us four quality innings,” he said. “He was great tonight. He was on point and spotted his slider for a lot of strikeouts.”

Gillung wound up with the win. In five innings, gave up six hits, two runs, walked five and struck out five.

“I struggled a little getting ahead of guys,” said Gillung, who fell behind 12 of the 24 batters he faced. “Coming in, I obviously wanted to get ahead and stay ahead in the count, but the defense and offense helped me out.”

Florence took a 1-0 lead in the first when Zach Caldwell singled to left and scored on a two-out double to center by Shuey.

The RedWolves made it 2-0 in the third when Taylor Lewis led off the inning with a double to left and scored on Sam DiMatteo’s sacrifice fly.

The Blowfish tied it 2-2 in the fourth on a two-out, two-run single to center from Cameron White.

The RedWolves’ home opener is tonight against the Fayetteville Swampdogs at Legion Field.

“We’re real happy to be going back for the home opener with a win,” Noble said. “We played hard here tonight. We got some big extra-base hits, got some clutch pitching and good defense. If you do those things every night, you’ll give yourself a chance to win.”