Morehead City, NC – The Tri-City Chili Peppers headed to Morehead City on Sunday for their first road game of the season. A dominant offensive performance and consistent pitching allowed the Chili Peppers to pull off a 5-3 win over the Marlins to maintain their undefeated record.

Lynchburg’s Zack Potts started on the hill for Tri-City. Potts was the game’s winning pitcher, allowing seven hits and only one run during his time pitching. Morehead City had the first run of the game in the bottom of the second while Potts was at the mound.

The Chili Peppers offense didn’t let the Marlins maintain this lead for long. They were able to put themselves on the scoreboard in the third. Brandon Eike of UNC hit a home run that allowed he and Kyle Jenkins to score for a 2-1 Tri-City lead. Eike has now homered in two consecutive games. Despite getting two hits in the third, Morehead City failed to take back the lead.

Neither team scored in the fourth, each leaving one runner on base. Longwood infielder Greg Ryan started the fifth inning off strong for the Chili Peppers, hitting a single and quickly stealing second. The next batter, Ryan’s Longwood teammate Hunter Gilliam, had a single of his own. Both Ryan and Gilliam rounded the bases in the fifth to advance the Chili Peppers lead to 4-1.

After an unsuccessful bottom of the inning for the Marlins, the Chili Peppers entered the sixth inning still up by three runs. The sixth didn’t start well for Morehead City. Their pitcher hit the first batter of the inning, Connor Butler, with a pitch, which allowed the Roanoke College player to take first base. A single by VSU freshman Tahraun Hammond allowed Butler to get to third, and a sacrifice fly to the center fielder by Ryan allowed him to score.

Pablo Veras took over for the Chili Peppers at the mound for the bottom of the sixth, not allowing any hits or runs. Tri-City struggled in the seventh, going three up three down at the plate and allowing two runs while Branden Blankenship was pitching to make the score 5-3. The Chili Peppers failed to put up any hits or runs yet again in the eighth, but luckily for them, so did the Marlins.

Tri-City had one hit in the ninth by Eike, but failed to take a more dominant lead. The bottom of the ninth provided Morehead City their final change to pull off a win on their home turf, but they were unable to do so. Pitcher Wyatt Stanley held the Marlins to no hits or runs in the ninth, finishing off the game with a 5-3 Chili Peppers win.

This win demonstrates that the early-season success for Tri-City isn’t limited to their home games. The team won their first road game of the year to remain undefeated and in first place in the Eastern Division of the Coastal Plain League.