All season long the Greensboro Grasshoppers were chasing the Cyclones for a playoff spot and finally the two competitors met up in the first game of South Atlantic League’s North Division playoff in North Carolina.
Making only his second appearance of the season, recently promoted pitcher Channing Austin started the game. Austin, a Brooklyn native, was a star at both Brooklyn’s Poly Prep and at USC. As a 2024 non-drafted signee for the Mets, Austin spent most of this season at Single-A St. Lucie until his late-August promotion.
For this playoff appearance, Austin went three innings, striking out three while giving up one run on two hits without a walk. Offensively, the game belonged to Colin Houck, who drove in three runs. With the Cyclones holding on to a narrow 2-1 lead in the eighth inning, Houck hammered a two-run homer to put Brooklyn ahead 4-1.
The Cyclones’ lead then quickly dissipated with Greensboro’s own two-run homer to narrow the score by the bottom of the eighth. Holding a tenuous 4-3 lead, manager Gilbert Gomez brought in Josh Blum in relief to get the final out as the righty struck out Ivan Brethowr with the tying run on base.
NY1 selects Tigers’ Hom as Scholar Athlete 
Friends of Historic New Utrecht to Launch Liberty Weekend 2026