Colonial Heights, VA- After a tough end to the first half, the Tri-City Chili Peppers kicked off the second half of their CPL season this weekend with two wins, one a league win over the Martinsville Mustangs on Saturday and an exhibition victory against the Native American National Team. Offensive production was a theme of both games for the Chili Peppers who have shown flashes of dominance at the plate at times throughout the first half of the season, followed by frustrating cold spells.
Saturday vs. Martinsville
The Chili Peppers hosted the Martinsville Mustangs at Shepherd Stadium for the first time this season, coming away with an 11-6 win. 
Marcus Goodpaster (Hanover) set an early tone, throwing a perfect game into the fifth inning and working on both ends of an hour and 45-minute rain delay. At the same time, Tri-City (1-0, 12-11) built a 5-0 lead all in the second inning.
Cole Jenkins (Virginia Military) saw four pitches as the leadoff batter in the second inning before the tarp was called for with lightning approaching Shepherd Stadium. When play resumed just after 9:00, Jenkins worked a walk that was one of four free bases allowed in the inning by Mustangs pitchers. One of those forced in a run, plus two wild pitches cost the Mustangs (0-1, 9-12) another two runs. The Chili Peppers only had two hits as they brought nine batters to the plate in the inning, one being a two-run double by Brandon Eike (Virginia Commonwealth) that rounded out the inning’s scoring.
The Mustangs cut the deficit to 5-3 as Goodpaster ended his night in the sixth inning but Tri-City put the game away in the seventh with a six spot that included a three-run home run by Michael Dolberry (Longwood) (6th) who just missed a go-ahead homer in the last inning of Friday’s game two in Morehead City. All together it was more than enough for an 11-6 victory.
Official Box Score: Tri-City Chili Peppers vs. Martinsville Mustangs – Coastal Plain League – boxscore | Pointstreak Sports Technologies
Sunday vs. Native American National Team
After a close 5-4 contest in the last exhibition contest between the two teams the Tri-City Chilly Peppers got a 14-4 run rule win over the Native American National Team on Sunday evening.
Alex Christie (Hanover) was the player of the game for the Chillys smashing two home runs and adding another RBI hit for a total of six RBIs in the game. Christie had a tough first half of the CPL season in league competition but has hit .316 or better in all three of his college seasons with a total of 32 home runs showed some of that talent Sunday night. His first inning three run home run traveled 440 feet, one of the longest home runs by any Chilly Pepper this season.
Brandon Eike (Virginia Commonwealth) and Eli Weisner (Charlotte) also added home runs and Walker Pedante (Caldwell Tech.) earned his second straight pitching win against the Warriors, throwing 4 1/3 innings and giving up four runs and striking out four batters.
Official Box Score: Tri-City Chili Peppers vs. Native American National Team – Coastal Plain League – boxscore | Pointstreak Sports Technologies
Upcoming Games:
Monday, July 3 (7:00) vs. Olney Cropdusters, Independence Day Celebration
Tuesday, July 4 (7:00) @ Martinsville Mustangs, no Chili Peppers broadcast, Martinsville broadcast available on FloSports.
Thursday, July 6 (6:30) @ HP-Thomasville HiToms, Listen on Mixlr
Friday, July 7 (7:00) vs. Peninsula Pilots
Saturday, July 8 (7:00) @ Holly Springs Salamanders, Listen on Mixlr