Fitzgerald Tosses Five Scoreless, Wins Double-A Debut
April 9, 2011 - Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release
RICHMOND, VA - The Richmond Flying Squirrels (2-1) pulled out all of the stops late in Saturday night's contest including a successful squeeze bunt from Justin Christian as the Squirrels topped the New Britain Rock Cats 6-2 in front of 6,093 at The Diamond.
Right-hander Justin Fitzgerald (1-0) got the start for Richmond, making his Double-A debut. The 25-year-old worked five scoreless innings, limiting the Rock Cats (1-2) to two hits while striking out a pair and walking two. The pivotal play for the Santa Rosa, CA native came in the top of the fourth inning. With a runner at third and two out, an 0-2 pitch got away from catcher Johnny Monell; however, the backstop made an accurate throw to a waiting Fitzgerald at home who then slapped the tag down on a diving Ray Chang for the third out of the inning.
Richmond broke through a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning against Bobby Lanigan (0-1). With runners at first and second, Roger Kieschnick singled into right-center to drive in Charlie Culberson with a 1-0 lead.
The Flying Squirrels extended their lead in the seventh inning, using small ball and key execution. Kieschnick drew a four-pitch walk to open the inning and advanced to second on a balk call on reliever Michael Tarsi. Mike McBryde followed with an attempted sacrifice bunt that he beat out for an infield single. Johnny Monell singled through the right side of the infield to extend the Squirrels advantage to 2-0. Right-hander Santos Aris took over for Tarsi and with Sharlon Schoop at the plate, his pitch glanced off of the mitt of catcher Danny Lehmann and McBryde scored on the pass ball to make it 3-0. Schoop followed by dropping a sacrifice bunt to move Monell to third with first out of the inning. Christian then came up and dropped a perfect squeeze bunt in front of the mound as Monell streaked across the plate with a 4-0 Richmond lead.
Richmond added two more runs in the eighth inning to take an eventual 6-0 edge.
New Britain ended the shutout bid for the Squirrels, scoring a pair of runs against right-hander Osiris Matos in the top of the ninth inning.
Richmond looks for a series-clinching win in the series finale with New Britain on Sunday afternoon at The Diamond. LHP Clayton Tanner (0-0, ---) returns for the Squirrels against RHP Steve Hirshfeld (0-0, ---) for New Britain. First pitch is schedule for 2:05 PM.
• Discuss this story on the Eastern League message board...
Eastern League Stories from April 9, 2011
- Baysox Capitalize Early, Clinch First Win - Bowie Baysox
- Fitzgerald Tosses Five Scoreless, Wins Double-A Debut - Richmond Flying Squirrels
- Bowie evens the Series with a 2-0 win over the Sens - Harrisburg Senators
- Two-Out Hitting Pushes B-Mets Past Aeros, 6-2 - Binghamton Rumble Ponies
- Aeros Fall to B-Mets, 6-2 - Akron RubberDucks
- Reading Rolls to 13-5 Win - Portland Sea Dogs
- McDade Goes 4-For-4 as Fisher Cats Beat Thunder 4-1 - New Hampshire Fisher Cats
- Curve Pitching Stymies Erie Bats - Erie SeaWolves
- Stoneburner's Strong Start Squandered, Thunder Fall 4-1 - Trenton Thunder
- Bats Hammer Erie's Bullpen in First Win of 2011 - Altoona Curve
- Richmond Flying Squirrels Game Notes - Richmond Flying Squirrels
- Indians OF Grady Sizemore in Today's Lineup for Aeros Game at Canal Park - Akron RubberDucks
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.
