Curtis' home run lifts Dash past Red Sox

Catcher John Curtis of the Winston-Salem Dash didn't mind the fat lip he got from his celebrating teammates last night.

Curtis was mobbed after hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat the Salem Red Sox 7-5 at Wake Forest Baseball Park.

As Curtis crossed the plate his teammates were there to greet him, and they roughed him up pretty good.

"Yeah, I got a fat lip a little bit, but that's all right; it was worth it," Curtis said of hitting his first homer of the season, off Chad Povich with one out and Tyler Kuhn on second base.

It was the final regular-season home game for the Dash and the 1,800 on hand saw an entertaining game. It was almost too entertaining for Manager Joe McEwing of the Dash.

The Dash held a 5-3 lead in the ninth, but reliever Santo Luis gave up a two-run homer with one out to Tim Federowicz that tied the game at 5.

Said McEwing: "That's part of it. In the ninth Salem came back to tie and they were resilient. They didn't give up, and we didn't either."

Reliever Nate Jones, who picked up the victory pitching a scoreless 11th inning, improved to 2-1.

In the bottom of the 11th, Kuhn laced a one-out double to the wall in center field. Then Curtis, who was hitting .207, stepped up to play hero.

"With Kuhn on second I just wanted to be aggressive and try to drive him in, no matter what," Curtis said. "The first pitch was up and I just got my hands through quick and got a hold of it a little bit."

Curtis, a 24-year-old 14th-round draft pick in 2007, said that his last game-winning homer was in high school. "It's been a couple of years," he said, laughing.

The Dash led 3-0 early, roughing up starter Seth Garrison. Salvador Sanchez and Brent Morel each had run-scoring singles in the first inning and Kuhn hit a sacrifice fly to score Justin Greene in the second for a 3-0 lead.

The Red Sox, who could be the opponent for the Dash in next week's first round of the playoffs, cut the lead to 3-2 in the third off starter Dylan Axelrod. But the Dash came right back with two more runs to make the score 5-2 as Sanchez had another RBI and Morel's ground out scored another run.

Zach Borowiak homered off Axelrod in the fourth to cut the deficit to 5-3.

Lost in Curtis' heroics was the solid relief work of Tyson Corley, who pitched two perfect innings in the seventh and eighth.

Luis then allowed a leadoff double to Anthony Ruzzo in the ninth, and struck out Brad Correll. But on a 1-2 pitch Federowicz hit his fourth homer of the season to make it a new ballgame.

Even though the Dash is in the playoffs Curtis said it's important to try and win the second half division title as well.

"To go back into first place and close out the regular-season at home with a win is a good way to go," Curtis said. "It was cool to do it like this tonight."

Notes: The Dash will close the regular-season with a four-game series at Myrtle Beach. Justin Edwards (6-2) will start for the Dash tonight against Jacob Thompson (5-4)…. The Dash is trying to win both halves of the split season in the Southern Division. The last time it happened was 1998, when the team was managed by Chris Cron and the league MVP was Joe Crede…. McEwing was named manager of the year in the Carolina League and Morel was named on the postseason All-Star team…. The Dash will open the Carolina League playoffs at home on Sept. 9 against either Salem or Kinston. Tickets are $5 each when purchased in advance.

■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.

SALEM ab r h bi W-S ab r h bi

Lin cf 3 0 1 0 Mllnhr 2b 2 2 1 0

Hee 3b 4 0 1 1 Paiml ss 4 2 1 0

Jones ph 1 0 0 0 Sanchez rf 5 0 3 2

Reza 2b 0 0 0 0 Morel 3b 5 0 2 2

Rizzo 1b 4 1 1 0 Loman 1b 5 0 0 0

Correll rf 5 0 1 0 Greene cf 4 1 1 0

Fdrwcz dh 5 1 2 2 Kuhn lf 4 1 1 1

Mailman lf 5 0 0 0 Curtis c 5 1 2 2

Brwk 2b/3b 5 1 1 1 Pschna lf 4 0 0 0

Vazquez c 3 1 0 0

Dent ss 4 1 2 0

Totals 39 5 9 4 Totals 38 7 11 7

Salem 002 100 002 00 -- 5


Winston-Salem 212 000 000 02 -- 7

E--Mailman. DP--Winston-Salem 1. LOB--Salem 5, Winston-Salem 6. 2B--Rizzo, Greene, Mollenhauer, Sanchez, Morel, Kuhn. HR--Borowiak, Fedorowicz, Curtis. SB--Greene, Morel. CS--Lin, Morel. PB--Vazquez, Curtis.

Salem IP H R ER BB SO

Garrison 4 7 5 5 3 2

Coello 3 2 0 0 2 3

Rice 3 0 0 0 0 4

Povich, L (0-1) 1/3 2 2 2 0 1

Winston-Salem IP H R ER BB SO

Axelrod 6 5 3 2 2 3

Corley 2 0 0 0 0 2

Luis 2 3 2 2 1 3

Jones, W (2-1) 1 1 0 0 0 0

WP--Axelrod. T--3:10. A--1,878