Tobs bash 4 HRs as Miller gets 5th win in romp over HiToms

THOMASVILLE — When the Wilson Tobs packed their power-hitting bats their bags for their annual trip to play their Coastal Plain League sister club, the High Point-Thomasville HiToms, on Friday night.

Wilson bashed a season-high four home runs while CPL All-Star starter Reese Miller notched his fifth victory in a 14-4 outcome in eight innings at Finch Field. The teams, both owned and operated by the team of Richard Holland Greg Suire, saw their game at Fleming Stadium earlier this season rained out. There were plenty of storms crossing the state Friday but only the Tobs and HiToms made it thunder at Finch Field.

The Tobs, now 8-8 in the second half and 23-17 overall, banged out 15 totals with seven going for extra bases. The HiToms (4-15, 14-29) slugged a pair of homers as well as the long ball accounted for 15 of the 18 runs scored. The CPL co-leaders in homers, Wilson’s Mackenzie Wainwright and HPT’s Brantley Willis, did not factor in the home run derby, however, Wainwright “only” doubled twice while Willis didn’t bat in the game.

Wilson wasted no time in going after High Point-Thomasville starting pitcher Phelemon Williams (3-3) as lead-off batter Jack Kail doubled. First baseman Cole Robinson then blasted a one-out homer, his seventh this summer, for a quick 2-0 lead.

Miller, who earned the CPL All-Star Game’s Pitcher of the Game for striking out the side in the first inning of the midsummer classic, fairly breezed through the first two innings with just one walk. However, the West Texas A&M right-hander encountered some trouble in the third when third baseman Jake Kernodle and second baseman Ty Hubbard stroked back-to-back singles to start the inning. Miller looked like he might emerge unscathed after getting the next two batters but HiToms first baseman Jackson Owen had other ideas when he tattooed a 1-0 offering from Miller for a three-run homer and a 3-2 HPT lead. Those are the most runs that Miller has given up in a game all season. He exited after five innings, allowing three hits and the walk while striking out eight, tying Miller (5-1) with Morehead City’s Jack Decker for the CPL lead in punchouts with 49 each.

Miller and the Tobs were comfortably ahead by then thanks to three-run homers by Kail and left fielder Luke Walton. Kail’s blast, his second of the season, followed singles by Colby Ott and Jared Beebe and ended Williams’ stint. Willis, the HiToms slugger, got similar treatment the next inning after getting HPT out of the fourth.

Wainwright led off with a double and catcher Chase Waddell followed with a single to set up Walton’s three-run dinger. A sacrifice fly by right fielder Hector Candelas to score Beebe later in the fifth left the Tobs up 9-3.

The Tobs weren’t done bashing, however. Trace Aufderhar, the fourth of five HiToms pitchers, walked Beebe and Kail before hitting Robinson with a pitch to load the bases for Wainwright. His sacrifice fly brought home Beebe before Waddell cleaned the bags with a three-run shot, the third of the summer for the Barton College rising senior and Hunt High graduate.

Kail’s sac fly in the eighth scored Ott for the Tobs’ final run in their second-highest scoring output of 2024.

High Point-Thomasville added a run in the bottom of the seventh on Mason Mozeley’s solo shot off Wilson reliever Ben Sieracki, a right-hander from Elon making his season debut. Sieracki only gave up that one hit and run while walking one and fanning one in two innings. Aiken Minton pitched a scoreless eighth to wrap it up.

Kail and Waddell each had three hits to lead the Tobs while no HiTom had more than one hit in the team’s five total.

Score by innings:

Tobs 200 340 41 — 14

HiToms 003 000 10 — 4

W-Reese Miller (5-1) 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO. L-Phelemon Williams (3-3) 3 2/3 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.

LEADING HITTERS — Wilson: Jack Kail 3-4, 2B, HR, 3 R, 4 RBIs; Cole Robinson 1-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBIs; Mackenzie Wainwright 2-5, 2 2Bs, R, RBI; Chase Waddell 3-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBIs; Luke Walton 1-4, HR, 3 RBIs; Colby Ott 2-4, R, SB; Jared Beebe 2-3, 3 R. High Point-Thomasville: Jackson Owen 1-4, HR, 3 RBIs; Mason Mozeley 1-3, HR, RBI.

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