Baysox bats come alive, beat Senators, 5-4
Published on July 5, 2005 under Eastern League (EL1)
Chesapeake Baysox News Release
(Bowie, MD) - The Baysox scored three times in a wild seventh inning en route to posting a 5-4 victory over the visiting Harrisburg Senators in front of a crowd of 2,706 Tuesday night at Dollar Days at Prince George's Stadium. General Admission tickets were just one dollar as they are for each Tuesday night home game.
The win snaps the Baysox (41-42) recent three-game losing streak and brings the club back to within one game of the .500 mark. The Baysox currently stand in fourth place in the Eastern League's Southern Division, 1.5 games ahead of fifth place Harrisburg (40-44).
Trailing by a score of 4-2 in last half of the seventh inning, Manager Don Werner opted to use his own brand of "small-ball" to kick start the struggling Baysox bats.
After both OF Eugene Kingsale and C Brandon Marsters both singled off of Harrisburg's Jason Norderdum (3-3) to lead off the seventh, SS Brandon Fahey followed up OF Peter Bergeron's sacrifice bunt with one of his own, stunning the Senators infield and cutting the deficit down to only one run.
Fahey wasn't finished, however, as the speedy shortstop garnered plenty of attention on the base paths, eventually goading the Senators' southpaw into making an errant throw on a pickoff attempt at first base, scoring Marsters from third and evening the score at 4-4.
Fahey, who advanced to third on the error, would come around to score on 3B Tripper Johnson's sacrifice fly to center, bring the Baysox all the way back from an early 3-0 deficit, and giving them a 5-4 advantage.
Things got interesting in the ninth, when Senators' shortstop Melvin Dorta led off the inning by driving a deep fly ball to left off of Baysox closer Sendy Rleal, sending LF Eugene Kingsale against the wall to make the catch. Rleal would then take care of business; retiring the next two batters in order to pick up his ninth save on the season.
Hayden Penn, making his first start since being optioned back to Bowie, pitched effectively, allowing three runs on five hits in six innings of work. Penn also recorded five strikeouts on the night while walking two.
Rehabilitation Watch: Jason Grimsley recorded the win for Bowie (2-0) as he pitched the seventh inning. He faced six batters, walking two and giving up one hit and earned run. Game Notes: The start of tonight's game was delayed by 32 minutes due to passing showers that came into the area during batting practice. C Brandon Marsters regained his hot bat after his 8-game hitting was snapped last night. He went 2-4 with a double and two runs scored. OF Peter Bergeron went 3-3 with a 2B and RBI. Five Baysox collected hits in the game, 4 went for multi-hit efforts. 2B Joey Hammond picked up his second stolen base of the season in the 8th inning. Closer Sendy Rleal struck out three of the four batters he faced in the 8th and 9th innings to collect his 9th save. 3B Tripper Johnson struck out three times against Harrisburg starter Kip Bouknight.
On Deck: The Baysox will welcome a friendly face back to Bowie on Wednesday night as Orioles starting pitcher Erik Bedard will take the mound in his first game action since going on the Disabled List. Bedard was the 2002 Opening Day starter for the Baysox and went 6-3 with a 1.97 ERA in his brief 13-game career with the Baysox. Bedard is scheduled to pitch two innings before giving way to regularly scheduled starter and Eastern League All-Star Cory Morris (5-2, 2.55). Morris currently ranks 3rd in the Eastern League ERA race. The Harrisburg Senators will send RHP Zach Day to the mound as he continues his rehab assignment for the Washington Nationals. First Pitch time is 7:05 p.m.
BAYSOX TICKETS: Tickets for all Bowie Baysox home games are available by calling the Baysox ticket office at (301) 464-4865 or by logging on to www.baysox.com
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
Eastern League Stories from July 5, 2005
