Spikes’ Eighth-Inning, Two-RBI Single the Difference in Sloppy Game One

Rome, GA - Ahead by as many as three runs Wednesday night, the Emperors saw Tampa’s no. 6 prospect, Aidan Smith, hammer a three-run shot to left field to tie the game in the fifth, and Parkview’s own Ryan Spikes drive in two in the eighth to secure a 6-4 series-opening win.

After Tuesday’s game was postponed due to rain, the Emperors (44-63) and the Hot Rods (58-49) managed to get their series opener out of the way Wednesday night. A few hours worth of heavy rain prior to first pitch made for interesting field conditions and certainly played a role in a handful of runners being thrown out and a trio of Bowling Green errors. In the first three innings alone, four outs were made on the bases and Hot Rods catcher Raudelis Martinez would finish the game with four caught stealings (he entered the game with 13).

Braves third-round pick from 2024, Luke Sinnard, took the ball in game one for the Emperors and struck out the side in the first on 15 pitches. Over the next three half-innings, Sinnard scattered four singles and stranded a pair of Hot Rods; Ryan Spikes’ RBI single in the fourth was the only base hit with a runner in scoring position which tied the game at one.

The six-foot-eight right-hander’s start took a turn in the fifth following a walk and a single given up to the eight-and-nine-hole batters. Aidan Smith, a fourth-round pick by Seattle in ‘23 and one of the return pieces in the trade that sent Randy Arozarena to the Mariners last July, blasted a 110MPH line drive over the left field wall which tied the game, 4-4, at the halfway mark.

Rome’s lineup, profiting early from a handful of Bowling Green defensive miscues, shut down after their three-run fourth. From the fifth-inning on, the Emperors went 1-for-16 with seven strikeouts. Colby Jones’ RBI single in the third-inning put the Emperors ahead 1-0. Logan Braunschweig’s and Ambioris Tavarez’s singles in the fourth were the swings that put the Emperors up 4-1 before Bowling Green’s five unanswered runs to secure game one.

Jones and Braunschweig are off to fantastic starts in their High-A careers. Jones is 14-for-42 (.333) with a pair of doubles across 11 starts. Braunschweig, over seven starts, is 7-for-23 (.304). Since returning from the 7-Day IL, Luke Sinnard has posted a 5.51 ERA over 16.1 innings and has given up more earned runs over that span (10) than he had across 40.0 innings

in the first half (9).

A double-header is set to begin at 5:00PM ET on Thursday. Probable starters have not yet been named for games two and three of the series with Bowling Green.