The Winston-Salem Dash are league champions for the first time since 2003, and they did it in style.
Winston-Salem finished off a clean sweep of the South Atlantic League playoffs by beating the Greensboro Grasshoppers 2-0 on Tuesday night, closing out a run that began with a two-game sweep of the Bowling Green Hot Rods in the Divisional Series. The title comes 23 years after the last time the club won a league championship, back when the team was in the Carolina League, called the Warthogs, and had only Michael Morse as a future major league fixture.
This one was built on pitching. Grant Umberger, who punched out 11 in 6 ⅓ innings of one-run ball to wrap up the first round, turned in an even sharper outing in the clincher.
He struck out 11 again, but this time held Greensboro scoreless over 7 ⅔ innings, allowing just three hits, three walks and two hit batters. Umberger was one out shy of completing eight full innings before Guillermo Quiroz went to Carlton Perkins, and Perkins finished the job by retiring all four batters he faced for the save.
The offense did just enough. Winston-Salem’s only runs came in the fifth inning, when Rylan Galvan and Nick McLain each launched solo homers against Jack Anker over a stretch of three hitters.
The championship also extends a strong run for White Sox affiliates. A White Sox farm club has now won a league title in three straight seasons, with Winston-Salem following the Birmingham Barons’ back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025. Quiroz now owns a two-year title streak at two different levels, and the source was blunt about the move: he was right to not consider it a demotion.
Elsewhere, Charlotte fell 4-2 to Norfolk. Rikuu Nishida went 1-for-4 with a strikeout, Ryan Galanie singled and struck out three times, and Junior Pérez finished 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
Drew Thorpe allowed two earned runs in 4.1 innings, striking out three while walking four and hitting one batter. Huascar Brazobán gave up one run in an inning of work, and Shane Smith tossed a scoreless inning.
At the plate for Winston-Salem, Nick McLain went 1-for-3 with a homer, walk, strikeout and stolen base. Javier Mogollón and Kyle Lodise both went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, James Taussig singled and struck out three times, Jeral Perez was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts, and Braden Holcomb went 1-for-4.
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