SPRINGFIELD, OH – In the first Battle of Springfield teams in the Prospect League in a few years, both pitching squads came out firing scoreless innings. Both bullpens allowed zero runs as the Champion City Kings fell to the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes 3-2.
Ben Zink (Clayton, OH; Wright State University) made his first start of the year, going four-and-a-third innings with three earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out three. The next two pitchers would combine for the last 4.2 innings, as Nori Curi (West Chester, OH; Clark State College) and Daewin Spence (Portsmouth, OH; University of Rio Grande) combined to spread out three hits and three walks, with Curi striking out five and Spence punching out two.
The Kings got on the board in the second inning, with Tyler Cox (Westbury, NY; West Virginia University) hitting his first home run of the year. After falling behind 2-1 to visiting Springfield, Nikolas Pereira (Palmetto Bay, FL; Florida Southwest State College) knocked in the tying run with a sacrifice fly to score Blake Buzzeo (Stow, OH; Miami University.)