KINSTON, N.C. (May 24, 2025) – The Down East Bird Dawgs cruised past the Mississippi Mud Monsters on Saturday, backed by a dominant second inning and a quality start from right-hander Zach Grace, securing a 9-2 win.

The Bird Dawgs erupted for five runs in the second inning. Trey Law walked with the bases loaded to bring in Joe Johnson, Trotter Harlan scored on a Stephen DiTomaso infield single, and Gehrig Ebel crossed the plate on an Ali LaPread sacrifice fly. Cameron Masterman capped the inning with a two-run single, scoring DiTomaso and Law to give the Bird Dawgs a 5-0 lead.

In the third, the Bird Dawgs kept rolling as Joe Johnson scored on a Trey Law RBI groundout, and Trotter Harlan came home on a Stephen DiTomaso sacrifice fly, adding two more runs to extend the lead to 7-0.

Mississippi caught a break in the fifth as they scored two unearned runs. Nick Hassan scored on an error by Harlan, and Travis Holt scored as Kyle Booker doubled to left field to shorten the Bird Dawgs lead to 7-2.

The Bird Dawgs answered with two runs of their own in the home half of the fifth, with a single hit by DiTomaso that allowed Harlan and Ebel to score to extend the lead to 9-2.

The final four innings went scoreless as both bullpens held firm, sealing a 9-2 final.

Zach Grace earned the win for the Bird Dawgs as he delivered six innings while allowing three hits and striking out six batters.

Joshua Paulina took the loss for Mississippi as he went four innings while giving up nine runs on seven hits. Zack Morris came out of the bullpen and gave the Mud Monsters four scoreless innings while striking out seven.

The Bird Dawgs go to 5-7 and play the final game of the six-game series against Mississippi on Sunday, May 25 at 1:30 p.m.