Disco Turkeys pull off dramatic comeback to win first-ever home game

The Carolina Disco Turkeys rallied from a 9-3 deficit to tie the game in the eighth inning and rallied again from a 12-9 deficit in extra innings to pull off a dramatic 13-12 win in 11 innings in their first-ever home game on Friday night at Truist Stadium. Technically, the game ended right as the clock was striking midnight on Saturday morning.

“I tried to tell the guys we were on the verge. We’d left a lot of runners on base early. The crowd was in it and we were going to put something together tonight,” said Disco Turkeys head coach Kirk Cabana. “Finally, we broke through and you could feel something special was going to happen and it did.”

The Disco Turkeys defeated the Martinsville Ponies in the end on a walk-off sacrifice fly by UNC Greensboro’s Caleb Smith that scored Logan Conklin.

Smith, a Winston-Salem native, also had a big double earlier in the game when the Disco Turkeys (2-3) put together a five-run eighth inning to tie the Ponies (0-1). Wake Forest’s Dane Stewart also had a big day in the Disco Turkeys’ lineup, leading the team with 3 RBIs and, like Smith, added a double in the eighth.

Both teams scored three runs in the 10th inning to force the 11th, which set the stage for Smith’s walk-off sacrifice fly. Dee Hawthorne (1-0), who closed out the top of the 11th, picked up the win for the Disco Turkeys.

The two teams meet again on Saturday night, also at 8 pm. Tickets are available online and at the gate. The Disco Turkeys close out their home stand with a visit from the Statesville Owls on Sunday at 3 pm.