Stripers build big lead, hold off Knights 10-7 in Charlotte

Gwinnett spent most of the night in Charlotte looking every bit like a club ready to cruise, then spent the final three innings proving it still had to close the door. The Stripers blasted their way to a 9-1 lead through six innings at Truist Field, but a six-run Knights push turned the opener into a tense finish before Gwinnett escaped with a 10-7 victory.

The first half of the game belonged to the Stripers’ power and timing. Jim Jarvis put Gwinnett in front with a two-run homer in the third inning, his fourth of the season, and Brewer Hicklen added an opposite-field solo shot in the fifth to keep the pressure on Charlotte. Oliver Dunn answered for the Knights with a homer of his own, but Gwinnett’s biggest blow was still to come.

That came in the sixth, when the Stripers strung together six runs on seven hits and turned a manageable lead into a commanding one. Jarvis and Aaron Schunk delivered RBI singles, José Azocar and Sean Murphy each drove in runs with doubles, and Luke Williams capped the inning with a towering two-run homer. By the end of the frame, Gwinnett had piled up a 9-1 advantage and appeared headed for an easy road win.

Instead, Charlotte kept working. The Knights scored six runs over the final three innings and cut the margin to 10-7, forcing Gwinnett to sweat out the last few outs. That late surge was not enough to overturn the damage from the sixth, but it did put a sharper lens on how the Stripers managed the back end of the game after building such a large lead.

Javy Guerra helped steady the night with a spot start, striking out three over three scoreless, one-hit innings. His work gave Gwinnett a clean platform, and the offense supplied the rest. Jarvis finished 3-for-5 with a double, home run and three RBI, missing the cycle by a triple and logging his sixth three-hit game of the season. Azocar drove in two runs, Williams added two RBI, and Hicklen extended his on-base streak to 11 games while scoring for the eighth straight contest.

Gwinnett finished with 12 hits, three home runs and a 10-7 win that moved the Stripers to 18-10 and Charlotte to 13-15. The result gave Gwinnett a 1-0 series edge, but the final innings served as a reminder that even a dominant cushion can become a test when the bullpen and game management have to absorb the last punch.