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CarL1 Salem Red Sox

Hillcats Hand Sox 11th Inning Heartbreaker

June 1, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem Red Sox News Release


Salem, VA - It was supposed to go over the wall.

That's how everyone felt when Dan Butler crushed a two-out, laser-beam liner to deep left with two runners aboard and Salem trailing by three in the bottom of the 11th inning. Yet somehow, for some inexplicable reason, the ball hit approximately 19-feet up on the 20-foot fence, only scoring one as Butler settled for the double that made the score 9-7. Though the Red Sox had oriented the tying runs in scoring position, Lynchburg's Matthew Frevert struck out Mark Wagner to complete the Hillcats 9-7 triumph in 11, another in a line of excruciating setbacks for the Salem Sox.

The Red Sox were one out from victory in the top of the ninth thanks to a pair of Kendal Volz strikeouts that followed L.V. Ware's leadoff single, but Phil Gosselin pounded a mega-clutch base-hit to left, bringing Ware across the plate to tie the score at six. Forced into extras, Salem managed to put the potential winning run at third with two outs in the last of the tenth, but Derrik Gibson grounded out with Wagner at third, precariously sending the proceedings into the 11th.

Dennis Neuman became the fifth Salem pitcher of the game and quickly felt the wrath of Hillcat catcher Shawn McGill, who launched his second leadoff homer of the ballgame to put Lynchburg up 7-6. After the bomb, Neuman plunked Ware, yielded a single to Andrelton Simmons, and then served up a triple to Gosselin, who drove in two more to give Lynchburg a three-run edge that would not be relinquished.

Perhaps extras would not even have been required if not for a controversial call in the last eighth inning that resulted in the ejection of Salem skipper Bruce Crabbe. With the bases loaded and one away, Zach Gentile drilled a liner at the left-fielder Adam Milligan. Following the catch, Michael Almanzar tagged from third and was called out at the plate by umpire Gus Curtis, infuriating Crabbe, who felt strongly that Almanzar had clearly slid in safely ahead of the tag. Instead of adding a pivotal insurance tally, Salem's threat was silenced and the Sox lost their manager. In addition, Gentile was also tossed in the aftermath of the heated exchange.

All of the late action overshadowed the first seven innings, in which the lead teeter-tottered back and forth repeatedly. After McGill's first homer gave Lynchburg a 1-0 lead in the third, the Sox scored three times in the bottom half, highlighted by Reynaldo Rodriguez' two-out, two-RBI double. The Hillcats slimmed Salem's lead to 3-2 with an unearned run in the fourth and reassumed the edge with three in the top of the sixth, surging ahead 5-3 thanks to Adam Milligan's solo homer, three straight singles, and an error on Wagner. But the Sox plated one an unearned run of their own in the sixth to slice the two-run deficit in half, then Butler bagged Salem's second two-out, two-run double of the night, putting his team up by a run.

The lead remained until Gosselin's two-out knock in the ninth, and Salem never led again. The Sox finished 4-for-17 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 men on base. In addition, the Red Sox record slipped to 25-26, below .500 for the first time since Salem was 0-1 for a few hours on April 10.

Major-league rehabber Junichi Tazawa pitched two scoreless innings for Salem at the outset, retiring six of the seven men he faced with 34 pitches, 24 strikes. Tazawa walked one and K'd a pair in his finest Salem Sox start yet.

The series between the Sox and Cats shifts to Lynchburg for the finale, scheduled for Thursday night at 7:05. Ryan Pressly will start opposite Zeke Spruill in Salem's lone game of the week at City Stadium. Thursday marks the beginning of Salem's 19-game road trip to conclude the first half. Over the next 18 days, Salem will travel to Lynchburg for one, Frederick for three, Lynchburg for four, Potomac for three, Kinston for four (in three days), and Potomac for four to conclude the first half.

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