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Dominguez delivers as Hoppers rally to win

Tuesday, July 22, 2008
(Updated 8:41 am)

GREENSBORO — Coming from behind is nothing new to the Greensboro Grasshoppers, but Monday night's rally was probably one of the more dramatic victories of the season.

Down 9-5, the Grasshoppers scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh and got the game-winning run in the eighth on a single by Matt Dominguez to come away with a 10-9 victory over the Charleston RiverDogs. After beating the RiverDogs on Sunday, the win gave Greensboro back-to-back wins for the first time since June 21st.

"They never gave up," said Grasshoppers manager Edwin Rodriguez. "It was nice to see that. They just kept chipping away. We keep telling them to take it one game at a time and play a full nine innings and see what happens."

After battling from behind all game, the Grasshoppers finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh. Trailing by four, the Hoppers got three straight home runs by Ryan Curry, Tom Hickman, and Torre Langley to tie the game at 9.

"It was all them," Rodriquez said. "That pitcher had good stuff, but you have to give credit to the hitters. They made adjustments, and they were aggressive."

It looked like the Hoppers would surrender the lead in the top of the eighth, but Ozzie Martinez stopped a ground ball from going into centerfield and saved a run. With the bases loaded, Steven Cishek came out of the bullpen and threw one pitch to Brandon Laird, who hit into an inning-ending double play.

In the bottom of the eighth, Greensboro used some old-fashioned baseball to put a runner in scoring position. Martinez led off the inning with a single and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brian Schultz. A deep sacrifice fly by Mike Stanton put Martinez at third with two outs and Dominguez delivered a single between third and short to score the game-winning run.

"The coaches told me they probably wouldn't give me much to hit with a base open," Dominguez said. "I was just trying to put the ball in play, hit it hard somewhere. I got lucky and hit it through the five and six hole."

"First, we had the back-to-back-to-back home runs and then we played small ball," Rodriguez said. "It was a nice combination."

Cishek stayed in to pitch a perfect ninth and get the win.

"He really had the momentum (so I left him in)," Rodriguez said. "He was keeping his pitches down in the zone. At some point, he had to turn it around. Maybe that was tonight."

The RiverDogs struck first, getting three runs in the top of the second inning. The Grasshoppers got one run back in the bottom of the second. After Curry walked, Hickman singled to right field and Curry hustled around to third base. He would score when Langley grounded to second, but beat the relay throw from the shortstop trying to turn a double play. That made the score 3-1.

An error by Greensboro shortstop Martinez allowed Charleston to have a big third inning. After Martinez bobbled what could have been a double- play ball, Justin Snyder hit a three-run homer to right field, making the score 6-1.

INSIDE: HOPPERS REPORT, C6

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