For the second time in two weeks, the Hoptown Hoppers recorded a franchise milestone victory. Lane Diuguid allowed two hits over eight innings and struck out eight to lead the Hoppers to a 7-3 win at Owensboro in a battle of first place teams in the Ohio Valley League.
The win was the 100th for Grayson Crawford who is in his second stint as Hopper manager. The Hoppers picked up their 200th win in club history June 14th with a 9-1 win over Muhlenberg County. Crawford has 100 of the 203 Hopper wins, which includes regular season and postseason.
Diuguid improved to 3-1 on the season and lowered his season ERA to 1.76.
The Hoppers broke open a 1-1 tie with four runs in the sixth inning. Brendan Nee was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Drew McGowan followed with a two-run single to put the Hoppers ahead 4-1. Ben Huber continued swinging a hot stick with a RBI single. Huber is batting .364 over the last five games with eight runs knocked in.
Hoptown added two more runs in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly and a ground out.
Seth Bennett, who leads the team with a .436 batting average, had two hits and scored twice for the Hoppers, who had eight hits in the game. Bennett and Charlie Fischer both had doubles.
The Hoppers improved to 12-6 on the season and moved three games ahead of Paducah in the OVL West standings. Hoptown will play a doubleheader at Franklin Friday.
Elsewhere in the OVL, Franklin split a doubleheader with Madisonville. The Miners won the first game 6-5 with the Duelers winning the nightcap 7-3. Trigg County alum Tyler Estes was 1-for-3 for Franklin in the first game and is 3-for-6 at the plate in three games for the Duelers this season.
Dubois County swept a doubleheader from Muhlenberg County, winning 7-5 and 3-0.
Henderson’s game at Fulton was rained out.