A late surge allowed Hub City to take control and walk away with an 8-2 win over the Bowling Green Hot Rods in the finale of a five-game series on Sunday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Bowling Green (36-31 overall, 2-1 second half) took the lead in the seventh inning, but Hub City answered with seven runs in the final two frames to earn the win.

“Still two out of three to start the second half, so it sets us up nicely going into next week,” BG manager Rafael Valenzuela said. “Obviously, you want to win them all but a tough eighth and ninth inning there. I believe that next week we are gonna bounce back and get back to winning.”

Hub City (32-36, 1-2) got a solo homer from Quincy Scott to lead off the third, the only blemish on the day for BG starter Marcus Johnson. The right-hander went six innings, scattering seven hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

“That’s probably one of his better starts,” Valenzuela said. “He mixed his pitches well. He attacked the hitters, kept them off balance. It was really good to see, especially since he’s had some bad luck in the past with contact. He only allowed one. He did a real nice job of minimizing when he needed to and working out of jams that he put himself into. I’m looking forward to his next start next week.”

The Hot Rods were able to slip in front in the bottom of the seventh when Blake Robertson tucked a soft liner over the bag at third for a two-run double that made the score 2-1.

The lead was short-lived with the Spartanburgers touching up reliever Adam Boucher for three runs. Anthony Gutierrez’s two-run double gave the lead back to Hub City with an RBI single from Casey Cook making the score 4-2.

Hub City broke it open in the ninth with a grand slam from Dylan Dreiling — his seventh home run of the season and second in the series.

Bowling Green finished with five hits, two from Emilien Pitre.

The Hot Rods now head to Asheville for a start of a six-game series on Tuesday at 5:35 p.m. CDT. It’s the start of a nine-game road trip and the beginning of a stretch where Bowling Green will only play six home games total over the next five weeks. The Hot Rods host Rome for three games July 4-6 and Greenville for three games July 18-20. Bowling Green will play 21 out of the next 27 away from BG Ballpark.

“It is what it is,” Valenzuela said. “It happens in the big leagues and it happens here. You’ve got to get on the road and you’ve got to win some games. I’m sure the guys are going to get used to it.”

Valenzuela said his team showed what it was capable of on the road so far this season. Bowling Green is 19-13 on the road and dropped to 17-18 at home after Sunday’s loss.

“If you look at the record from the first half, I think our record on the road was much better than our record at home,” Valenzuela said. “It’s not going to bother us. Obviously you want to be home. You want to be around Bowling Green because you are used to the ballpark and all of that, but we will be all right.”