The White Sox were handcuffed by Garrett Crochet, who took a no-hitter deep to win a pitchers’ battle with Shane Smith. But it was a much more successful day on the farm!

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 4, Charlotte Knights 3
Things didn’t start out well on the farm, though, as Jacksonville accomplished the nigh-impossible by completing a six-game sweep against the Knights. It wasn’t starter Owen White’s fault, as he went five scoreless but got just RBI singles from Dominic Fletcher and Edgar Quero for the effort. Eric Adler came on in the ninth and spectacularly blew the save, yielding a walk, four hits and three runs for the walk-off. A 6-3 record has turned upside-down fast, now 6-9. Not nice.

Birmingham Barons 14, Chattanooga Lookouts 2
This is more like it, as the sometimes-demure Bham offense went ham for 18 hits, including 7-for-18 with RISP. The truly amazing (he is one of the youngest players in Doulbe-A) William Bergolla kept his push for Triple-A going strong, with a 4-for-5, RBI, two runs, walk day. Jacob Burke, trying to recover from a horrible 2024 that killed his momentum to Charlotte, added a grand slam. Every Birmingham batter had at least one hit, and six went for more than one. The outburst pushed the Barons to 5-3 on the season.

Winston-Salem Dash 10, Greensboro Grasshoppers 4
Not to be outdone, the even more demure Dash offense put quite a crooked number up in the very first inning: seven runs. The first seven W-S hitters reached, and even that out was productive (Samuel Zavala sac fly to push the lead to 5-0). All told, 13 hitters came to the plate and gave Jake Bockenstedt (five innings, one run) enough of a pad to cruise for his first win of the season. Sam Antonacci, Ryan Galanie, and Caden Connor drove in three runs apiece. The Dash improved to 3-6.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 8, Lynchburg Hillcats 7
This one got a little hairy, as the CBs seemed to have the game in hand, leading 6-2 at midpoint, but the feisty Hillcats kept nibbling and scratching. All was well in the end, as Jack Young came on with one out in the ninth and earned the save. Caleb Bonemer, taking on a challenging immediate assignment to Kannapolis after playing (in-between storms and snowflakes) prep ball in Michigan this time last year, hit his first pro homer. Kannapolis got the series win, and moved better than .500 (5-4) with the win.

William Bergolla photo by Robert Paul/Instagram.

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