EL1 Chesapeake Baysox

Baysox, Curve Use Twelve Pitchers In Doubleheader

Published on June 29, 2008 under Eastern League (EL1)
Chesapeake Baysox News Release


(Bowie, MD) - The Baysox split a doubleheader with the Curve Sunday, taking game one 8-3 before dropping the nightcap in extra innings, 6-5. Game one was the conclusion of Saturday's regularly scheduled game and lasted seven innings. Due to Minor League Baseball rules, the second game was also scheduled for seven innings, but went ten.

Game one began where the teams left off Saturday, with one out and a man on first in the bottom of the third inning with the Baysox leading 4-3. The Curve sent Jeff Sues to the mound to take over for Saturday's starter, Josh Shortslef, and Sues retired the rest of the side in order.

Ryan Keefer took over for Rommie Lewis to begin Sunday's affair for the Baysox and continued to impress, going 2.1 innings and allowing just three hits to earn his first victory of the year. Keefer is still getting stronger returning from Tommy John surgery in 2006, "I'm feeling a lot better command-wise and my arm is feeling good. I've got a little different role now, I'm more of a long guy but I feel really good. My throwing partners are a big help with my control and locating my pitches, I'm just feeling good."

The Baysox got back on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning. Travis Brown led off with a triple down the right field line. With one away, Jonathan Tucker drew a walk to put runners on the corners and Carlos Rojas hit a single to right field, plating Brown to give Bowie a 5-3 lead.

Bowie struck for two more runs in the fifth on a two-run homerun off the bat of Brian Peterson and they added another run in the bottom of the sixth. Carlos Rojas hit a one-out double to right field and Lou Montanez drove him in with a single to left. Gerardo Casadiego retired all five batters he faced to nail down the 8-3 victory.

The Baysox grabbed an early 1-0 lead in game two on a solo homerun by Lou Montanez in the bottom of the first. Altoona answered back with a run of their own in the top of the third. Luis Cruz led off with a double to center field and Steve Lerud singled him home to tie the game at 1-1.

The Curve snapped the tie in the top of the fourth inning. Shelby Ford led off with a hard ground ball to first base that eluded Jeff Nettles for an error. Jonel Pacheco made the Baysox pay with a two-run blast over the wall in center field. Jason Delaney picked up a base hit and moved to second on a groundout by Jason Bowers. With two outs, Luis Cruz picked up a single to right field, scoring Delaney. Cruz took off in an attempt to steal second base, and catcher Matt Wieters threw a strike to the bag, but shortstop Blake Davis couldn't corral the throw and Cruz was in safely. James Boone slapped a base hit into left field to score Cruz and give Altoona a 5-1 lead.

Tillman pitched well, despite allowing five total runs. He was only charged with two earned runs, but he didn't use that as an excuse, "I made two mistakes, that was it. I thought I made good pitches, it just didn't come out the way I thought it would. I thought I made a lot of good pitches, and I made two blunt mistakes that hurt me pretty bad."

The Baysox started to chip away in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out RBI single by Jonathan Tucker. Bowie picked up two more runs in the bottom of the sixth on a Nolan Reimold solo homerun and a bases-loaded walk by Blake Davis.

Bowie got forced the game to extras with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Sebastien Boucher led off with a pinch-hit double down the left field line. Boucher advanced to third on Lou Montanez's groundout, bringing Nolan Reimold to the plate with a man on third and one away. Reimold broke his bat and blooped one just over the leaping second baseman to bring Boucher in and tie the game at 5-5.

Kam Mickolio pitched a scoreless sixth inning and Julio Manon threw 3.0 no-hit innings of relief, striking out two and surrendering just one walk. Felix Romero came on to pitch in the top of the tenth and retired the first two batters in order before Shelby Ford crushed a homerun to right to give the Curve a 6-5 lead. Romero got ahead of Ford in the count 0-2 before Ford fouled off four pitches and eventually homered on a full count. Christian Castorri came on to close out the Baysox in order in the bottom of the tenth for his first save.

With the split, the Baysox move to 46-36, in second place in the Southern Division. Bowie looks to put some distance between them and the rest of the division with a four-game series in Harrisburg starting Monday. RHP Jason Berken (5-3, 4.28 ERA) will start Monday's game for the Baysox against Harrisburg LHP Adrian Alaniz (0-0, 2.65 ERA).

The Baysox will return home for a four-game series against the Erie SeaWolves beginning on July 4th. The Baysox will celebrate Independence Day with special Fourth of July fireworks after Friday night's game. Great seats are still available at www.baysox.com.

The Bowie Baysox are in their 16th season as the "AA" affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. Baysox individual game tickets, season ticket plans, group outings, picnics and birthday parties are currently available for booking by calling the Baysox front office at (301) 464-4880.

Check out the Chesapeake Baysox Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Eastern League Stories from June 29, 2008


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.

OurSports Central