Nichols keeps it rolling in Hot Rods 6-3 win over Asheville

Published 2:33 pm Wednesday, May 14, 2025

By Micheal Compton

TJ Nichols is starting to find his groove with the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

The right-hander made it three straight wins with one of the best starts of his career, blanking Asheville for six innings in Wednesday’s 6-3 win over the Tourists at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Nichols allowed two hits and struck out a career high 12 batters to give Bowling Green (20-15) a second straight win over Asheville.

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“TJ set the tone early,” BG manager Rafael Valenzuela said. “He threw a strong six innings. That was probably some of the best stuff I have seen since he’s been here. His last two starts were really good and it was really fun to watch today.”

Nichols struck out seven of the first nine batters through the first three innings – allowing an infield hit in the second and a fourth-inning single. He retired the final eight batters he faced and didn’t walk a batter – throwing 77 pitches, 55 for strikes – to improve to 3-1 on the season.

“Kind of everything was working,” Nichols said. “The off-speed, I was able to command better than I have been in the past. That definitely helped me punch guys out when I got to two strikes.

“Just staying with what I do best. The change-up and slider were great today. The fastball was behind those two, but it worked as well.”

Nichols added staying in his routine has led to his recent success.

“We come to work every day, all these guys do,” Nichols said. “Especially on my off days. Not taking them completely off, but getting my work in and succeeding.”

Nichols kept the Tourists locked down until the BG offense finally got going in the middle innings.

BG got on the board in the fourth on a two-out, RBI double by Ryan Cermak.

One inning later, patience paid off as the Hot Rods plated two to extend the lead to 3-0. The Hot Rods drew five walks in the fifth, four with two outs – including back-to-back, bases-loaded walks to Mac Horvath and Noah Myers.

“(Tuesday) we faced a guy that was probably as advertised,” Valenzuela said. “Today the guy was good. We were able to get in their pen and showed a little patience there, which got us a couple of runners on base – some big at-bats there with the bases loaded.”

Jhon Diaz opened the sixth with a solo shot off the scoreboard in right to make the score 4-0.

Asheville (15-20) broke through off the BG bullpen with two runs in the seventh – including and RBI double from Chris Jaworsky – to trim the deficit in half.

Bowling Green got both runs back in the bottom of the inning, with Diaz delivering a sacrifice fly and Myers scoring from second on an infield hit by Blake Robertson.

Asheville scratched across a run on a wild pitch in the eighth before Jack Snyder was able to retire the final four batters to close it out for his fourth save of the season.

Bowling Green finished with eight hits, with Cermak leading the way with two hits. Myers scored two runs and had two stolen bases.

Asheville was limited to four hits and finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

The series continues at 6:35 p.m. on Thursday. Right-hander Marcus Johnson (2-2, 4.62) is scheduled to start for the Hot Rods, with righty Yeriel Santos (0-3, 10.80) slated to start for Asheville.

About Micheal Compton

I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.

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