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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Bats Explode for 11 Runs in Blowout

August 24, 2012 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Lynchburg, VA - After putting together some tough offensive performances in Frederick, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (60-71, 31-30) came out on fire, drumming the Lynchburg Hillcats (68-63, 30-31) to an 11-5 tune on Friday night at City Stadium.

The Blue Rocks took the lead in the second inning and never looked back. Matt Fields worked a walk against Lynchburg's Gus Schlosser. A single from Cheslor Cuthbert into center field scooted Fields to third. Murray Watts fisted a ball to left field for a sacrifice fly to open the scoring at 1-0. Geulin Beltre bounced a ball to Edward Salcedo at third. His throw to second pulled Weaver off the bag and the relay to first did not nab Beltre. On the next pitch, Cuthbert and Beltre took off. Juan Graterol rolled a dribbler through the vacated right side to score Cuthbert and push Beltre to third for a 2-0 lead. Angel Franco slowly rolled a ball to second for a fielder's choice that brought home Beltre to stretch the lead to 3-0.

After the Rocks added a pair in the third, the Hillcats answered with a trio of scores in the bottom half to make it a 5-3 game. They got some of those tallies back in the top of the fourth inning. Orlando Calixte ripped a double into the left field corner. Nick Van Stratten bounced a ball into center field that scored Calixte to make it 6-3. Van Stratten swiped second and with one out a rocket shot up the middle off the glove of shortstop Matt Weaver from Fields pushed the edge to 7-3.

Watts led off the fifth with a dinger to stretch their advantage to five runs.

After the Hillcats crept to within four after six innings, Wilmington added a single score in the seventh. Cuthbert doubled to lead off the inning and eventually came around on a wild pitch. In the eight, Van Stratten smacked a two-run homer off the left field scoreboard to make it 11-4.

Leondy Perez notched his fourth win, going 5.1 innings of four-run ball for the triumph. Edwin Carl tossed 2.2 perfect innings, chalking up a pair of strikeouts. Santiago Garrido pitched in his first contest since June 4 by closing out the ninth.

The Rocks hit the middle game of this three-game set with the Hillcats on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. Wilmington has chosen RHP Jason Adam (5-12, 3.76) against Lynchburg's RHP Ryan Weber (2-3, 4.08). Broadcast coverage begins at 5:35 p.m. as studio host Rob Cunningham brings fans the Rocks Report Pre-game Show, presented by Wawa, on 89.7 WGLS-FM and online at wgls.rowan.edu.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

With a win on Friday, the Blue Rocks have momentarily pulled into a tie with the defending CL champion Keys, who are in the midst of a contest with the Potomac Nationals. Wilmington, Frederick and Potomac are all separated by 3.5 games for the division's second-half playoff spot. The four-time Carolina League champion Blue Rocks are attempting to make their first playoff appearance since pacing the loop with 84 wins in 2009.

Wilmington concludes its regular-season schedule with 5 of its last 9 games against its brothers from the North. The Rocks own a 32-23 (.582) mark in intradivisional competition.

The Blue Rocks magic number to clinch a playoff berth moves to 10 with the Frederick Keys. Any combination of Blue Rocks wins and Keys losses totaling 10 by regular-season's end will mean a playoff berth for Wilmington for the first time since 2009.

If the Blue Rocks stay on pace with their current winning percentage, they are slated to finish with 64 wins, the lowest single-season total since the 2005 Blue Rocks posted a 60-80 mark.

Brett Eibner's strikeout rate is on a historic pace. Eibner's 158 strikeouts ranks second on the franchise's single season record list, after a pair of whiffs on Thursday. He is one behind first-place Donnie Ross (159 Ks, 2001).

The eight total runs allowed was a career-high in total runs allowed by Lynchburg starter Gus Schlosser. Schlosser had never reached that mark in 46 previous outings (25 starts). The five earned runs allowed was the most he yielded in a contest since he allowed seven earned to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans at City Stadium on May 4.

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