Greenville, N.C. – The Greenville Yard Gnomes showed their offensive firepower in a dominant 16-3 exhibition win over the Carolina Pirates on Sunday night at Guy Smith Stadium. A balanced offensive attack, including three different homerun hitters, lifted the Gnomes to a 16-3 win.
Greenville (5-1) opened the scoring in the second inning. Michael Kalinich crossed home plate on a sacrifice fly by Josh Mason, and Fuller Morrish scored shortly after on a wild pitch to give the Gnomes a 2-0 lead.
In the third, Tate Dickinson stole two bases to advance to third before scoring on a putout. David Lillis followed by launched a solo home run to double the lead to 4-0.
The Gnomes broke things open in the fifth. Brody Gardner scored on a Pirate error, and Morrish followed with a three-run blast over the left field fence, scoring Danny Ramirez and Kalinich to stretch the lead to 8-0.
The sixth inning was an offensive explosion. Dickinson launched a two-run shot, Dan Bass scored on a wild pitch, and Kalinich delivered a two-run single to bring home Jon Howard and Joe Whitaker. Ramirez added another run on a defensive miscue, and both Josh Mason and John Kiebler touched home on bases-loaded walks to cap off an eight-run inning.
The Pirates (0-2) avoided the shutout with three runs in the seventh via bases-loaded walks, but John Locurto closed the door to preserve the win in the exhibition matchup.
Luke Cannon earned the win for Greenville, tossing two scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts. Owen Chapman took the loss for Carolina, giving up 10 runs (five earned) on seven hits over five innings.
Up Next: The Yard Gnomes hit the road Tuesday night for a matchup with the High Point-Thomasville HiToms. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.