EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Flying Squirrels Game Notes at Erie

Published on July 25, 2015 under Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


Richmond Flying Squirrels (SF) (53-45) vs. Erie SeaWolves (DET) (37-61)

Saturday, July 25th -- 7:05 PM

Jerry Uht Park -- Erie, PA

Game #99 - Road Game #45

Radio: Fox Sports 910 (6:35 PM) Internet: FoxSportsRichmond.com

RHP Joe Biagini (8-5, 1.91) vs. RHP Tommy Collier (3-0, 2.24)

Sunday, July 26th @ERI 1:35 PM RHP Tyler Beede (2-3, 3.95) vs. RHP Austin Kubitza (5-9, 6.06)

Monday, July 27th @ALT 7:00 PM RHP Joan Gregorio (1-1, 3.61) vs RHP Chad Kuhl (8-4, 2.75)

TODAY'S FEED:

This day in sports: Lefty Grove of the Boston Red Sox won his 300th career major league game, 10-6 over the Cleveland Indians (1941).

Giants update:9-3 win over the Athletics last night. Hunter Pence collected his first four-hit game of the season while the team as a whole posted 17 hits in the victory.

SERIES AT A GLANCE: The Flying Squirrels continued to make noise across the Eastern League with their sixth consecutive win, 4-1, over the SeaWolves Friday night in game two of this four-game series. Richmond starter Adalberto Mejia logged a season high seven innings and posted a season best eight strikeouts. Ricky Oropesa clubbed his team-leading 11th home run in the seventh inning to break the 1-1 tie. The Squirrels grabbed game one, 4-3, in large part thanks to Hunter Cole. The 22-year-old delivered four hits and two RBI's. The Squirrels bombarded enemy territory with 14 hits, which is the most in a road game since June 5 (18 hits at New Hampshire). This is the third meeting so far this year between Erie and Richmond during the Eastern League regular season collision course. The SeaWolves grabbed two of the three contests back in the first duel (5/18-5/20). The Squirrels starting pitchers (Matt Lujan, Kyle Crick, Joe Biagini) struggled in this series and allowed 16 of the 20 runs Erie scored throughout the three days. Richmond committed four errors (tied for most in a game this year) in game three. The Squirrels returned the favor and took two of three at The Diamond in mid June (6/12-6/14). This current series is the final time these squads will meet during the remainder of the regular season.

ALMOST IMPROBABLE: Believe it or not, the uphill climb is soon to be forgotten. The Flying Squirrels are just one game back of the first place Bowie Baysox (Baltimore Orioles). They have been one game back for the last three days. It is the closest Richmond has been to the top since April 15 when the team was just 3-3 (0.5 GB). Also since April 15, the Squirrels have only been stationed in second place for nine scattered days, but that includes the last four. Richmond was as far back as 11.5 games (May 3) when the club was in the midst of a 15-game losing skid. The club is currently on a six-game winning streak and, in addition, for the first time a season best eight games above .500 (53-45). This is the fourth time this season the Squirrels have won six straight games, which is also the longest streak of the year. The last time Richmond won six consecutive games was in early June (6/4-6/10). The longest winning streak in Squirrels franchise history is seven games back in the inaugural 2010 season. Richmond's offense has turned the corner with 55 hits from July 19 to July 23. The squad had just 19 hits in the first four games back from the All-Star vacation.

LUMBERJACKS: The Squirrels have arguably some of the hottest hitters in the Eastern League right now. Over the last week, Rando Moreno and Hunter Cole are in the top six in the Eastern League in batting average. Moreno is hitting .455 (10-22) in the last seven days. Meanwhile, Cole holds an eight game hitting streak. He collected four hits during a game on Thursday for just the third time in his professional career. Cole only drove in two runs in his first 17 games with Richmond and now has seven in his previous seven contests. In his first at-bat of his previous two games, he has doubled in a run. He his hitting a team best .389 since the All-Star break.

KEEP COUNTING: Engel Beltre is in the midst of a tremendous stretch. He extended his hitting streak to 15 games Friday (19-56 during this time). With that, Beltre surpassed Mac Williamson for the longest hitting streak from a Squirrel this year, which used to be at 14 games. Beltre is second on the team in batting average (.310). He only has five strikeouts in his last 10 games while in the middle of this streak. In five of the last seven games, Beltre's first hit has come in the sixth inning or later.

HOLDING DOWN THE FORD: The bullpen has demonstrated resiliency over the last several games. Joan Gregorio adjusted to a starting role for just the second time this year on July 21. The tall right-hander tossed four shutout innings and allowed just one hit. This was his longest outing of the season. Meanwhile, the rest of the relievers have absorbed only two earned runs over their last 17 innings of work (5 games). Derek Law, Jose Casilla, and Tyler Mizenko have produced one save each during this timeframe. Mizenko has been the leader of the bullpen recently with zero runs in his last 8.1 innings.

UPCOMING HOMESTAND PROMOTIONS: (7/30) Thursday Night In Your Face Fireworks Survivor Night & Superhero Jerseys presented by Your Local Ford Dealers. (7/31) "Up For Whatever" Night, Free Shirt Fridays and Happy Hour presented by Bud Light. (8/1) Superblast Saturday/Star Wars Night. (8/2) Kids Club Nutzy Cape Giveaway & ASK Night. (8/4) Charlottesville Community Night. (8/5) Tri-Cities Community Night, Tribute to Peanuts. (8/6) Thursday Night In Your Face Fireworks and Faith Night #2

ERIE STARTING PITCHER: RHP Tommy Collier (3-0, 2.24)

Collier, 25, is making his third run at the Eastern League and this will be his 11th start with the SeaWolves this year. He was recalled to Erie from Advanced-A Lakeland on May 26th. He earned his return trip to Erie after posting a 3-4 record with a 2.09 ERA across eight starts for the Flying Tigers. The right-hander has surrendered three hits or fewer along with just one run in each of his last three starts. Collier was originally a 22nd round selection of the Tigers out of San Jacinto (Texas) Junior College. He made 17 starts for the SeaWolves in 2014 and worked to an ERA of 5.88 before being demoted to Lakeland where he finished the season. He made one of those Double-A starts in 2014 at The Diamond on May 9th, and pitched well over three scoreless innings. However, his outing was interrupted by a lengthy rain delay. That game was memorable due to the fact that it eventually lasted 13 innings and six hours and nine minutes to complete. The game itself lasted four hours and 43 minutes and an hour and 26 minute delay was added to that. The Squirrels finally won the ballgame, 7-6, at 1:16 a.m. local time when Myles Schroder delivered a two-run walk-off single.

Check out the Richmond Flying Squirrels Statistics

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Eastern League Stories from July 25, 2015


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