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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Blue Rocks Game Recap: Tuesday, August 16,

August 17, 2016 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


The Wilmington Blue Rocks' (45-76/18-34) third basemen Mike Hill picked up a pair of hits in his first game as a member of the Blue Crew, but immediately hit a cold streak, going 5-for-45 in his next 13 games. He launched himself out of that slump on Tuesday night at Frawley Stadium by crushing his first two homers at the Advance-A level and helped dropping the Potomac Nationals (66-54/32-20) by a 7-5 score. Foster Griffin went six innings to take home his second win in his last two starts as the 6-8 batters of the Rocks lineup went 7-for-9 with all seven runs scored, four RBI and three walks.

Griffin had no trouble in the first inning, but ran into immediate trouble in the second. The first six P-Nats reached base as the bottom of their lineup did the most damage with the 7-9 batters all producing RBI singles to stake out to a 3-0 lead. It took the Rocks till the third inning, but they finally started to chip away at Potomac starter Dakota Bacus. Hill started the frame by working a walk and moved up to second on a single by Robert Pehl. Brian Bien followed with a strikeout, but Cody Jones slapped a single up the middle to load the bases. Austin Bailey's groundout to first brought the game to a 3-1 score and Matt Page was unable to hand a grounder by Samir Duenez and the Blue Crew bought it to a 3-2 deficit.

Griffin came back with a shutdown fourth frame and Hill continued to carry the momentum by carrying a big stick. Elier Hernandez got on base with a one-out single and Hill took the first pitch of his at bat and pulverized it over the right field wall for a two-run shot, which put the Rocks ahead 4-3. It was the first home run hit off of Bacus all season long. The P-Nats used an error to tie the game in the top of the sixth, but once again it was Hill piling the runs up for the Rocks and tossing them back in the lead. Hernandez poked a ball down the right field line and hustled into second for the leadoff double. Hill got down in the count against submarine right-handed reliever Neil Holland, but he missed inside and low to Hill who golfed it high into the night sky and when it came down over both walls the Rocks had a 6-4 lead. Pehl kept it going with a double in the next at bat and after a strikeout and a groundout, he was able to job home when Austin Bailey lined a ball over the right fielder's head and give the Blue Crew a 7-4 lead.

The boys from Frawley turned to the bullpen for the seventh and although Jacob Bodner got a pair of outs, he also walked a couple of batters and left the game with runners at second and third and two done. Luis Rico came on and immediately threw a wild pitch to make it a 7-5 game, but he struck out the batter to escape the jam. The Rocks lefty then had a perfect eighth and ninth to slam the door and seal the 7-5 victory.

Griffin moved to 4-8 with the win and Holland takes the loss to drop to 1-2 on the year while Rico stays perfect in saves with his fifth of 2016. The boys from Frawley take aim at a series win on Wednesday when they send RHP Zach Lovvorn (2-14, 3.92) against LHP Matthew Crownover (3-4, 5.16). First pitch for that game is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. and fans wishing to attend the game can get their tickets online at BlueRocks.com or call the Blue Rocks ticket office at 302-888-BLUE. Those hoping to listen to game can hear Matt Janus' call by tuning in to WGLS-GM 89.7 Rowan Radio or by going to the Rocks website at BlueRocks.com.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Rocks third basemen Mike Hill entered Tuesday night's game with just seven hits in his first 49 at bats and only two doubles as his only extra base hits. He doubled that number of extra base hits with his first two long balls of the season and went 3-for-3 on the night while driving in four and scoring three times. It was his first home run in his last 16 games, when he last cleared the fence on July 24 against Columbia as part of the Lexington Legends. That blast was a grand slam, but with a pair of two-run dingers against Potomac on Tuesday, Hill equaled the four RBI and became the second Blue Rock to drive in four in the last two games after Samir Duenez did it on Monday. With the two homers, Hill also became the third Blue Crew member to hit two home runs in a game. He joins Luis Villegas who did so back on August 9 against Salem and Ryan O'Hearn who picked up a pair of four-baggers versus Potomac on April 15 down in Woodbridge, VA.

Rocks outfielder Elier Hernandez might be the streakiest member of the team. On July 11 he was batting .199, but he turned things on by going 26-for-74 from July 13 to August 2 to raise his average all the way up to .228, which was the highest it had been since the second game of the season. However, he went cold in the four game series against Potomac and went 0-for-15 before snapping out of that slump to go 12-for-32 over his next eight games including a 2-fofr-3 performance on Wednesday with a double and two runs scored. During the most recent hot streak, Hernandez has picked up four two-hit games and three doubles plus a triple and scoring seven times with three RBI.

It seems like Robert Pehl has been the odd-man out all season long for Manager Jamie Quirk. However, Quirk has tried to insert his Swiss army knife of a utility man as much as possible this season and with steady playing time over the last month, Pehl has really turned things on. The Washington State native went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and a walk for the second straight night. The performance carried his average up to .242, but has been part of an extended hot streak. Since July 17, Pehl is batting 22-for-70 with 10 doubles, 10 RBI and eight walks. Before the hot streak, Pehl was batting .212, but has since bumped his average by the 30 points. With the sixth-inning double, Pehl now has 19 doubles on the season out of his 50 hits.

It was not a good start to the season for the Wilmington Blue Rocks against the Potomac Nationals. In the first 22 games played between the two team, the Rocks went 4-18 including 0-8 at Frawley Stadium. They broke that unfortunate streak with a 7-3 win on Monday and backed that up with a 7-5 victory on Tuesday night to take the first two games of their four-game set and assure themselves of at least a split in the series. It is part of a late turnaround for the Blue Crew at the friendly Frawley confines. Since July 29, the Rocks have gone 8-3 at home against the Frederick Keys and now the Potomac Nationals.

THEY SAID IT

ROCKS MANAGER JAMIE QUIRK

"Well (Foster Griffin) found his curveball. Early in the game, the first couple innings he couldn't find his curveball. We just said keep calling it. We told (Chad Johnson) to keep calling it and he had to find it. You can't just go in there without it and he found it. The first time around those left-handers at the bottom of the order got him because he could get his curveball over. The second and third time around he got them because he found his curveball. That was a nice improvement for him. Sometimes young pitchers just say I don't have it. No you've got to keep throwing it until you find it. He got it and it helped him big time."

"You can't always count on (Samir Duenez) and (Brandon Downes). You can't always count on your three and four guys they're going to make some outs too. (Mike Hill) had a big game; it was huge for us, with the two homers. He'd been struggling but he's been kind of finding it. This game he put it together. Whenever the bottom of your order can give you production it just makes it easier on everyone else."

"I think it's just hard work. He's been working in the cage. He's getting settled in, he's new to the league and he's finding his way and tonight it showed. If I knew exactly how to turn that switch I would have done that about a week and a half ago."

"We talked to him about the batting gloves. He's a sweater, he sweats a lot. We talked to him about it because the bat kept flying out of his hand. I suggested you've got to go to batting gloves in this humid weather like this and it's been helping him."

"Yeah, it was all about matchups in the seventh. (Jacob Bodner) got the first guy out, then walked two. It was a close game and their batting order was all lefties so I went to (Luis Rico) and he did a great job."

"Well, (Carlos Diaz) is a good defender, the ball got away from him. (Brian Bien) is a very good defender. I like when they're both in the game when we have a lead. It worked out very well. They picked each other up. Carlos threw the ball away which is uncharacteristic because he's got a good arm, a very accurate arm. Bien and Diaz turned a great double play to end the game."

ROCKS THIRD BASEMEN MIKE HILL

"In the second at bat the guy throws a little bit of a cutter. On me I was yanking them so I knew he was going to throw a bunch of cutters. All I told myself was 'try and stay inside the ball' so I could hit it out to center field and sure enough he left one out over the middle of the plate."

"I think a lot of lefties will tell you we like facing those guys. They're coming from way out there all I have to do is just wait back. The first couple pitches I was a little anxious I was trying to pull the ball and didn't wait on it. Then when I got to two strikes I told myself 'okay I've got to make contact'. I just saw the ball way deeper, like I should have in the first place. I just waited back and he threw a changeup inside and I just stayed inside of it and hit it out."

"It was my decision. I've never thrown a bat in my life and I did it in two at bats, this year I've done it four times. Growing up I never wore batting gloves. I started to in college for that reason because I thought 'If I play pro ball I'm going to be playing in very humid weather, I's going to be sweaty'. I didn't wear them in Lexington because I was hot. I came here; hurt a kid, so I figured I need to wear batting gloves from now on."

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