EL1 Chesapeake Baysox

Baysox Best Curve On Wild Night In Bowie

Published on May 20, 2009 under Eastern League (EL1)
Chesapeake Baysox News Release


BOWIE, Md. - The Baysox won their fifth in a row on a wild night at Prince George's Stadium. Five errors, two balks and a three-run bunt by second baseman Miguel Abreu kept the fans on the edge of their seats as the Baysox bested Altoona 8-7.

Baysox starter Sean Gleason had a rough go-round in his sixth start for the Baysox. The right-hander allowed three of the first four Curve hitters to score before settling down and finding his command.

Trailing 3-0 after half an inning, the Baysox tallied single runs in the second and fourth innings off Altoona left-hander Kyle Bloom. Right fielder Ambiorix Concepcion walked with one out in the second, advancing to third when designated hitter Adam Donachie reached on an error. Concepcion scored the first Baysox run on a sacrifice fly by left fielder Joe Nowicki. They added another run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Donachie, plating third baseman Michael Costanzo to make the score 3-2.

The fifth inning was one of the wildest ever at Prince George's Stadium. Altoona scored three runs in the top half of the inning despite only hitting two balls out of the infield. Pedro Lopez doubled to right field to start the inning, and Brian Friday reached on an infield single a batter later to put two on with one out. Steven Lerud singled to right, scoring Lopez and advancing Friday advanced to third.

Gleason nearly got out of the inning by getting Jonel Pacheco to ground a ball to short for a potential inning-ending double play, but Miguel Abreu could not turn two as Friday scored. Pacheco stole second and advanced to third on as catcher Guillermo Rodriguez's throw sailed into center field. Gleason got James Boone to tap a pitch to third, but Costanzo's throw to first was offline allowing Pacheco to score and stretching the lead to four. While Gleason admitted his command of his fastball was not where he needed it to be, he also knows bad luck is a part of the game.

"It just happens," Gleason said. "You just tip your hat to the other guy for beating it out."

The offense would get Gleason off the hook in the bottom of the inning, when Robert Valido's hustle caused a defensive meltdown by the Curve. Rodriguez doubled to start the inning and Valido followed with a walk to put runners on first and second. Left fielder Jonathan Tucker lined a single to left, scoring Rodriguez and bringing the Baysox within three. Abreu stepped to the plate looking to sacrifice the runners over for the red-hot Brandon Snyder. Instead, Abreu layed down a perfect bunt down the first base line as Bloom and catcher Steven Lerud followed the ball hoping it would go foul. With nobody covering home, Valido never slowed down as he rounded third looking to score. Lerud flipped the ball to home with nobody covering and Valido scored easily. Tucker rounded third looking to score from first. Bloom fielded the ball by the backstop and threw home with a chance to get Tucker at the plate, but his throw wound up in center field allowing Abreu to come all the way around the diamond to tie the game. The play energized a Baysox squad that now carried all of the momentum.

"(Manager) Brad (Komminsk) was actually telling me no, no, no," Valido said. "I knew I could beat the guys, it worked out and gave us the momentum we needed for the W."

Valido came up big again in the sixth as the Baysox took the lead against Altoona reliever Joshua Hill. With Rodriguez on second and two outs, Valido lined a triple into the right-center field gap to put the Baysox up 7-6.

The Baysox bullpen could not hold the lead. Ryan Keefer loaded the bases in the seventh after striking out the first four hitters he faced. Ryan Ouellette relieved him and threw a wild pitch on his first offering of the night, tying the game at seven apiece.

Back came the offense in the bottom of the seventh, as Costanzo walked with one out in the inning. Costanzo advanced to second when Altoona reliever Eric Krebs caught a spike during his wind up, causing him to balk. It would prove costly, as Concepcion lined a single to left putting Costanzo on third with one out. Donachie lifted his second sacrifice fly of the game to put the Baysox up 8-7.

Ouellette came back in for the eighth, before giving way to left-hander Chad Thall with a man on second and one out. Thall got both batters he faced to to ground out to get out of the inning unscathed. Josh Perrault came on in the ninth, loading the bases with two outs before getting Jeff Corsaletti to fly out to end the game. The save was Perrault's third of the season, and came with the added bonus of having his wife and daughter in the stands to watch.

"It's awesome, I love them being here," Perrault said of having his family cheering him on. "They'll come by and say hello every once and a while and it's great to have that support."

Perrault and Wilfrido Perez have combined to form one of the best back-end tandems in the Eastern League. The two have combined for a 1.54 ERA over 31 appearances, holding hitters to a .161 average and striking out 44 in 40.2 innings of work.

"We're both being aggressive and attacking hitters," Perrault said. "As we go we're building confidence and attacking them even more."

With the win the Baysox move to 19-18 on the season, while Altoona falls to 12-26. The Baysox will go for the sweep tomorrow as RHP John Mariotti (0-1, 7.40) looks for his first Baysox win. He will be opposed by RHP Brad Lincoln (0-3, 2.87) for Altoona. Game time is set for 7:05.

The Baysox 17th season as the class AA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles is underway! Check out www.baysox.com to see all that's going on at the stadium this year, and don't miss a moment of the action as the Baysox attempt to bring home their first Eastern League championship. Individual game tickets and ticket packages are available now at www.baysox.com or by calling the Baysox box office at (301) 464-4865.

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Eastern League Stories from May 20, 2009


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