Bowling Green Hot Rods second baseman Hunter Haas (2) rounds second in the Hot Rods’ 3-2 win over the Emperors at the Bowling Green Ballpark on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. (Grace Ramey McDowell/grace.ramey@bgdailynews.com)

The Bowling Green Hot Rods put together a season-high 23 hits in a 17-3 victory over the Asheville Tourists on Friday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

The Hot Rods (40-33 overall, 4-3 second half) jumped ahead in the bottom of the first inning, facing Tourists starter Trey Dombroski. Brayden Taylor walked and advanced to second on a Tre’ Morgan ground out. Cooper Kinney singled to center, scoring Taylor from second to give Bowling Green a 1-0 lead.

Bowling Green piled it on in the bottom of the second, still facing Dombroski. The Hot Rods plated six runs, highlighted by a solo home run from Ricardo Genoves and a two-run blast by Cooper Kinney to move the score, 7-0.

The Hot Rods pushed the lead further with three runs in the bottom of the fourth and six runs in the bottom of the fifth. Hunter Haas led the way, driving in four of the nine combined runs on two doubles in the fourth and fifth.

After the Tourists (32-39, 4-3) put up a run in the top of the sixth against Hot Rods reliever Derek Edington, Bowling Green responded with a run in the bottom of the seventh off Asheville reliever Railin Perez. Morgan drove in Haas from third on a base hit to left, increasing the lead, 17-1.

Jackson Loftin smacked a two-run homer in the top of the ninth off Bowling Green reliever Jeff Hakanson, but Asheville went scoreless the rest of the way to end the game, 17-3.

Edington (1-0) earned the win, allowing a run on a hit over 1 2/3 frames. Dombroski (3-8) took the loss, allowing seven runs on eight hits, two walks and a strikeout over three innings.

Bowling Green and Asheville play the penultimate of a six-game series on Saturday with first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. The Hot Rods roll out right-hander Owen Wild (2-0, 2.61), while the righty Derek True (2-1, 6.39) takes the ball for the Tourists.