Despite trailing 12-4 in the fifth, the Martinsville Mustangs used twenty hits to storm back and knock off the Peninsula Pilots 15-13 on Friday night at Hooker Field for a sweep of the mini two-game series.
Right-hander Kevin Kopps (Arkansas) made his third start of the season on the mound for the Mustangs, allowing five runs, three earned on six hits while striking out six in four innings of work.
After the Mustangs (15-7-1, 6-7 CPL) grabbed a 1-0 first inning lead on a sac-fly RBI by Matt Goodheart (Arkansas), the Pilots responded with five runs in the second to grab a 5-1 advantage. In the third, Martinsville hit back-to-back home runs for the first time this season as outfielder Justin Rodriguez (NC A&T) launched a two-run homer over the scoreboard in left and Goodheart followed with a shot to center to trim the deficit to 5-4.
The Pilots (15-10, 7-10) struck back again however in the fifth, scoring seven runs off righty Kevin Heinrich (St. Johns River State) to take control 12-4.
Martinsville began to chip away in the home half of the fifth when second baseman Jack Elliott (Mercyhurst) sent a three-run home run out to right to make it 12-7. In the sixth, third baseman Logan Fink (Kennesaw St) also homered, a solo shot to left, and the Mustangs scratched across another run on a Pilots throwing error to make it a 12-9 game.
Right-hander Ryan Huffman (VMI) worked three scoreless innings and struck out seven to help keep Martinsville within striking distance.
The Mustangs would take the lead for good in the seventh as an RBI double by Steve D’Eusanio (Youngstown St), an RBI groundout from Landon Shaw (Presbyterian), an RBI single by Joe Simone (Gardner-Webb) and a huge two-run double by Rodriguez, who later scored on a wild pitch, helped the home team score six times and grab a 15-12 lead.
Following a lengthy weather delay in the eighth, righty Hunter Treece (Mercyhurst) tossed the final 1.1 innings and worked out of a big bases loaded jam in the ninth to secure his first save of the summer and the Mustangs comeback victory.
Martinsville returns to action on Saturday night against the High Point-Thomasville HiToms at Finch Field in Thomasville. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.