SAL1 Hagerstown Suns

Drive Bury Suns

Published on July 16, 2009 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Hagerstown Suns News Release


HAGERSTOWN, MD -- On a night when four balls cleared the fences at Municipal Stadium, the Hagerstown Suns (6-15) improbably brought the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, needing a grand slam off the bat of third baseman Travis Keithley to steal a win from the visiting Greenville Drive (10-10). Drive closer Lance McClain sent Keithley down swinging, however, sticking the Suns with an 8-5 home loss on Thursday night.

Greenville's Ryan Lavarnway single-handedly outscored Hagerstown on just two swings in the first and fifth innings. The designated hitter homered to right off Suns starter Patrick Arnold (3-2) in the opening inning for a 2-0 Drive lead, then deposited another Arnold offering into the visiting bullpen in right-centerfield for a fifth-inning grand slam that put his team on top, 6-3.

Will Middlebrooks came through with the third round-tripper of the night for Greenville in the top of the eighth inning, launching a towering shot over the scoreboard in left to put the Drive ahead by five.

The Suns cut into the lead in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by rightfielder Michael Guerrero that scored first baseman Robby Jacobsen, who had tripled. With Hagerstown trailing 8-4 in the bottom of the ninth, second baseman Steve Lombardozzi and catcher Derek Norris reach based to lead off the inning. Lombardozzi scored on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Tyler Moore before the Suns loaded the bases on an error and a hit-by-pitch. Keithley's strikeout ended the Hagerstown threat, however, dropping the Suns to 1-7 at home in the second half of the South Atlantic League season.

The offensive highlight of the night for the Suns was a three-run homerun by Moore in the bottom of the third inning that gave Hagerstown a short-lived 3-2 lead. It was the sixth homer of the season for Moore, who finished the day two-for-three with a walk and four runs batted in. Moore now has 51 RBIs for the season, pulling him into the Top 10 on the SAL leaderboard for the category.

Lombardozzi and Jacobsen also had two hits each for the Suns, scoring a run apiece. Hagerstown had 10 hits on the night, but was just one-for-11 in scoring position and left 21 runners on base.

Hagerstown welcomes the Asheville Tourists to Municipal Stadium next, for a four-game series that starts Friday night at 7:05 p.m.

Check out the Hagerstown Suns Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 16, 2009


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