Hot Rods Game Notes – SAL Championship Series Game 2
September 20, 2022 – South Atlantic League (SAL) – Bowling Green Hot Rods News Release
First pitch for tonight’s game will be at 6:05 PM CT at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD. If Bowling Green wins, they’ll be back-to-back champions.
Driscoll Come Through… The Hot Rods took game one of the SAL Championship Series with a 5-3 win over Aberdeen at Bowling Green Ballpark. Dillon Paulson put BG up early with a two-run homer in the first while a wild pitch made it 3-0 in the fourth. The IronBirds tied the game in the fifth. The game stayed even until the eighth when Driscoll grounded a ball through an infield already playing tight, allowing two runs to score to give BG the late lead. Antonio Menendez sat Aberdeen down in order to close out a win in the first game of the series. Heading into game two, every home team in the SAL playoffs has won their games.
Sunday’s Notes… Driscoll drove in his first two runs of the playoffs… It was also his first start of the postseason for BG… Murray had multiple hits in a game for the third-straight game… He’s had at least one hit in every game this postseason… Paulson and Lopez are each tied for the team playoff lead with two homers… They’re one behind the franchise record of three homers in a single postseason… The record is shared between Jordan Qsar and Grant Witherspoon from 2021 with three each… Workman has not allowed a run over 8.0 postseason innings… The home team has won every game in the SAL postseason this year…
First Half Champs for the Championship… The First Half Division Champions in both the North and South will battle for the South Atlantic League Championship. This is Bowling Green’s second consecutive trip to their league championship series, winning the Midwest League in 2018 and the South Atlantic League Crown in 2021. BG has reached their league championship game in three of the past four years. Aberdeen is looking for their first full-season championship in their second year in full-season ball. Previously a member of the short-season New York Penn League, Aberdeen last won a league championship in 1983, then called the Utica Blue Sox.
Defending Champs… Jeff Smith led the Hot Rods to their second-ever league title in 2021, and has them back in the postseason in 2022. It’s the sixth-straight season the Hot Rods have reached postseason play, skippered by Smith (2X), Craig Albernaz (1X, 2018), and Reinaldo Ruiz (3X, 2016, 2017, 2019) in this stretch.
Clinched!… BG finished the first half leading their division for the third time in club history, clinching a playoff spot with 2018’s Midwest League Champions and again in 2011. (there were no halves in 2021). The 2011 team finished the first leg of the season with a 41-29 record while the 2018 Hot Rods set a franchise record with 47 wins in the first half and a record of 47-22. The 2022 club became the third Hot Rods team to the 40-win mark in a half.
Records Broken… The Hot Rods had a historic season, with multiple single-season records broken in 2022. Heriberto Hernandez passed Jordan Qsar (2021) for the team’s single-season home run record with his 24th early in the final home series of the regular season. Hernandez passed 2011 Hot Rods lefty Philip Wunderlich for the team RBI record of 86 with three RBIs in Bowling Green’s final game of the regular season, putting his new record at 89. Hernandez also owns the franchise strikeout record, previously held by Josh Lowe (2017, 144). Anthony Molina tied the franchise win record of 13 in his last regular season start, set by George Jensen (2011).
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