Clutch Hitting Ignites Danville to 5-4 Win
July 21, 2011 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Danville Otterbots News Release
Danville, VA-The Danville Braves fought their way to a 5-4 win over the Burlington Royals on Thursday night. Despite allowing 15 hits to the Royals, the D-Braves were able to score two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the lead and hold on to it.
Burlington came out of the gates hot. Lane Adams, Justin Trapp, and Jorge Bonifacio each singled to lead off the top of the first inning. Bonifacio's single scored Adams from second giving the Royals a 1-0 lead. Starter, Lucas LaPoint immediately put an end to the hitting barrage. He got Murray Watts, the league leader in homers, to fly out. LaPoint then picked Trapp off of second and struck out Jin-Ho Shin looking to end the inning.
The Braves came right back in the bottom of the first. Nick Ahmed led off the inning with a single which he followed by a steal of second base. After being moved over to third by a Kyle Kubitza groundout, Brandon Drury doubled down the left field line scoring Ahmed. Nick De Santiago doubled to right field later in the inning to score Drury and the Braves held a 2-1 lead.
Burlington scored quickly off of LaPoint again in the third inning. Jose Rodriguez singled to center, stole second, and was brought home on an Adams double to right field. The Royals had tied the game at two a piece. The inning ended in dramatic fashion when Shin flew out to right field with one out and then Chase Larsson threw a laser home to get out a tagging Justin Trapp.
The second batter in the bottom of the third for Danville, Kubitza, drove a ball down the right field line into the corner that ended up going for a triple. Royals manager, Nelson Liriano, came out to argue some balls he thought should have been strikes. After a lengthy argument with the umpires, Lirano was ejected from the game. The D-Braves took the lead again when Drury collected his second run batted in of the night off of a sacrifice fly to right field.
The Royals added another run in the fourth and fifth innings. Jared Dyer doubled home Anthony Howard, who was making his Burlington debut. That run tied the game at three. Burlington took the lead again in the fifth when Bonifacio drilled a ball over the 400 foot wall in center field for a solo homerun. Bonifacio, fresh off an 18 game hitting streak, went 4-for-5 with a run scored and two runs batted in.
Danville scored the game tying and game winning run in the fifth inning. Ahmed stole his second base of the night after he singled. A wild pitch moved him to third base with just one out. Kubitza singled for his second hit of the night and tied the game. Kubitza took advantage of a fielding error by Howard and advanced to second. Burlington replaced starter, Eric Cantrell, with Malcom Culver who allowed a double to Billy Beckwith. Beckwith's double was his 27th RBI of 2011 and it would be all the Braves needed to win.
Lucas LaPoint got his first win of the year. He went five innings giving up ten hits and three earned runs. Williams Perez pitched two and one-third innings in relief and Joe Lucas got his fourth save of the season after pitching one and two-thirds.
A scary moment occurred in the ballgame in the eighth inning. The Royals had runners on first and second with no one out when Adrian Bringas singled to centerfield. Jin-Ho Shin tried to score from second base and Kurt Fleming's throw from center came home high. After Nick De Santiago caught it at home he immediately braced for impact with Shin who ran directly into De Santiago. Shin lost consciousness for a few seconds. After the team trainer tended to Shin, he was able to walk off the field with some help and was taken to the locker room for further evaluation.
Danville evened up their record at 15 wins and losses. Game two of the three game series will be tomorrow night at 7:00 pm. The Braves are hosting Cancer Awareness Night presented by Centra. The players will be wearing purple jerseys and there will be a silent auction for each jersey held throughout the game. The proceeds of the auction will benefit the Danville Cancer Association and the Alan B. Pearson Cancer Center of Centra. For more information on the schedule, tickets, group nights, and/or partnership opportunities please contact the Danville Braves office at (434) 797-3792, email at info@dbraves.com, or log on to www.dbraves.com.
Appalachian League Stories from July 21, 2011
- Clutch Hitting Ignites Danville to 5-4 Win - Danville Otterbots
- Austin Delivers Game-Winning Hit to Down Blue Jays - Pulaski Mariners
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