SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Defense Causes Power Loss

Published on July 22, 2009 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


Charleston, WV (July 22, 2009) - The West Virginia Power committed seven errors at Appalachian Power Park on Wednesday night and the Savannah SandGnats took advantage, scoring runs in the first five innings of the contest to open the four game series with a 7-2 victory.

After a trio of errors in the top of the first, the SandGnats plated their first run on Wilmer Flores's sacrifice fly plated Jefry Marte. Josh Satin belted a one out single in the second inning and scored on Kai Gronauer's two-run homer. Jordan Abrazzo started the third inning with a double and scored on Sean Ratliff's base hit. Ratliff came homer later in the third on Gronauer's sacrifice fly.

The SandGnats scored single runs in the fourth and the fifth to pull away. A wild pitch plated Raul Reyes and Joey Augusta belted an RBI single to left field which scored Satin. West Virginia got their only two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Robbie Grossman, Tony Sanchez and Bobby Spain started the inning with three consecutive singles. Spain's base knock scored Grossman and Quincy Latimore reached on a fielder's choice to score Sanchez.

Chris Schwinden (7-5) delivered a masterful performance for the SandGnats. He tossed six scoreless innings of five hit ball and fanned ten batters in the process to get the victory. Brian Leach was tagged for six runs on five hits over four innings and walked four while suffering the loss. Yoffri Martinez and Ryan Kelly kept the SandGnats off the board in the final three innings of game, allowing just a pair of hits between them. The seven errors were a season high for the Power, and they have committed 41 errors over 19 games in July.

West Virginia fell to 39-55 overall, and 12-12 in the second half after the loss, while the SandGnats improved to 50-46 overall and 15-11 in the second half after the victory. Robbie Grossman paced the Power with a 3-for-5 performance. Jeremy Farrell turned in a multi-hit game as well with a pair of singles, extending his on base streak to 22 games. Quincy Latimore singled in his first at bat and has hit safely in his last seven games. Starling Marte's single in the ninth inning extended his hitting streak to eight games and he has reached in all 20 games with the Power. Tony Sanchez's eighth inning base hit extended his on base streak to 13 games.

West Virginia will continue the four game series against the Savannah SandGnats at Appalachian Power Park on Thursday night. The Power will start right hander Gabriel Alvarado (5-7, 5.16) and the Sand Gnats will counter with left hander Robert Carson (7-7, 2.53). The first pitch will be delivered at 7:05 PM.

Check out the Charleston Dirty Birds Statistics

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



South Atlantic League Stories from July 22, 2009


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