Kamren James went 3-for-4, driving in three runs to help the Bowling Green Hot Rods take a 5-3 win over the Asheville Tourists on Friday night at McCormick Field in Asheville, N.C.

The Tourists (48-70 overall, 22-35 second half) opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning against Hot Rods starter Duncan Davitt. Michael Sandle worked a one-out walk and advanced to second base on a groundout. Justin Williams doubled to left, scoring Sandle, giving Asheville a 1-0 lead.

The Hot Rods (63-54, 33-24) scored in the top of the fifth against Asheville starter Miguel Ullola. Nick Schnell led off with a walk and James plated him with a double to left. Chandler Simpson collected a bunt single to put runners on the corners. After a pitching change for the Tourists, reliever Walker Brockhouse balked, allowing James to score, making it a 2-1 Hot Rods advantage.

The Hot Rods plated two more runs in the top of the sixth inning against Tourist pitcher Joey Mancini. After the first two hitters struck out, Hunter Haas and Schnell earned back-to-back walks. James singled to left, scoring Haas to make it 3-1. Simpson walked to load the bases and Shane Sasaki singled to left to score Schnell for a 4-1 Bowling Green lead.

James collected his final RBI hit in the top of the eighth, driving in Haas to take a four-run lead, 5-1.

The Tourists attempted a comeback in the bottom of the eighth, scoring two runs of Hot Rods relieve Austin Vernon, including a solo homer by Kobe Kato. That would be all they could muster, as Haden Erbe entered the game and locked down the save for a 5-3 Hot Rods win. 

Vernon (7-3) picked up the win, allowing two runs on three hits, walking one and striking out three over three innings. Ullola (3-8) took the loss, surrendering two runs on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Erbe picked up the save pitching a scoreless inning, allowing one hit and striking out three.

The Hot Rods and Tourists play the penultimate game of a six-game series on Saturday with a 5:05 p.m. CT first pitch. Bowling Green will start Ian Seymour (0-0, 0.00) against Asheville right-hander Alex Santos (3-6, 6.99).