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Hoppers end season with 12-inning win

Monday, September 1, 2008

(Updated 4:53 pm)

By Rob Daniels
Special to the News & Record

GREENSBORO -- Tom Hickman's leadoff home run in the bottom of the 12th inning ended the Grasshoppers' season with a 7-6 victory over the Lexington Legends today before the third-largest crowd in NewBridge Bank Park history.

Mike Stanton hit his 39th home run of 2008 in his only official at-bat, and he finished one off the South Atlantic League's single-season record in that category. The 18-year-old Californian, the youngest Minor or Major League player with 35 or more in a season since at least 1962, walked in his other four plate appearances. Russell Branyan of the 1996 Columbus Red Stixx holds the mark with 40.

At the gate, the Hoppers drew 10,103 fans for the Labor Day matinee. The total left them only 331 short of breaking their record for the fourth straight year. The team led the league in total attendance anyway.

Hickman's blast was his 15th of the year and the first, he said, of the walk-off variety.

"Never even in high school," he said.

SAL HR LEADERS

SINGLE SEASON

HR	Player	Team	Year
40	Russell Branyan	COL	1996
39	Mike Stanton	GBO	2008
39	Mike Simms	ASH	1987
37	Marcus Giles	MAC	1998
36	Joe Koshansky	ASH	2005
33	Steve Hacker	MAC	1997
32	Jon Benick	HIC	2004
32	Ron Wright	MAC	1995
30	Ryan Royster	COL	2007
30	Matt Miller	ASH	2005
30	Ian Stewart	ASH	2004
30	Jason Kinchen	GBO	2001