CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Blue Crew Walks off in Ninth in Home Opener

Published on April 13, 2012 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - It seemed the Rocks' were doomed for their third straight series opening loss on Friday night.

All that changed in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Wilmington Blue Rocks (3-4) scored four times to pull off a 4-3 victory against the Frederick Keys (3-4) on Frawley Stadium's Opening Night.

Down 3-0 in the ninth inning and facing reliever David Walters, Roman Hernandez led off with a single. After a strikeout of Geulin Beltre, Kevin David recorded a base knock to put the tying run at home plate. The next batter, Jake Kuebler, snuck a double down the third-base line to score Hernandez and make it 3-1. With the tying runs in scoring position, Whit Merrifield skied a ball to center field. Trent Mummey appeared to be settled under it but the ball went in and out of his glove. David scored on the play, while Kuebler moved to third and Merrifield scrambled to second base. After Orlando Gomez elected to intentionally walk Alex McClure, Cheslor Cuthbert came to the plate. He also lofted a ball to the outfield. Left fielder Jeremy Nowak twirled around trying to locate the ball and dropped it. Kuebler and Merrifield raced home with the tying and winning runs, inciting a frenzy amongst the Frawley Faithful.

It was a frustrating game for the Blue Rocks early on as they could not cash in their chances. The Blue Crew had a pair of golden opportunities with the bases loaded to tie or take the lead.

In the first inning with the game scoreless, Hernandez weakly tapped back to starting pitcher Scott Copeland with the bases loaded to end the frame. Beltre was in the same situation against reliever Clay Schrader in the sixth inning and popped out down the right-field line to Keys second baseman Bobby Stevens which retired the side.

The Keys initially took the lead in the fifth inning after a pair of doubles from Bobby Stevens and Aaron Baker, making it 1-0 Frederick off Blue Rocks reliever Jon Keck. Baker struck again off Keck in the eighth inning as he rocked a two-run homer to right field on the first pitch he saw to pad the lead at 3-0.

Jason Adam started the game for the Blue Rocks and was nearly untouchable. He tossed five shutout frames, yielding only four hits while ringing up seven strikeouts, which at one point included five in a row.

Cole White (1-0) ended up the lucky winning pitcher as he pitched a scoreless eighth inning with a walk and a strikeout.

With their first home win in the books, the Blue Rocks get back after it on Saturday with a first pitch time of 6:05 p.m. in the middle game of a three-game set with the Keys. Wilmington right-hander Greg Billo (0-1, 5.40) gets the ball against righty Mike Wright (1-0, 0.00). 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.

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Carolina League Stories from April 13, 2012


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