SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Four-run sixth provides Power victory

Published on August 16, 2006 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


Mat Gamel and Tony Festa both hit two run homers in the sixth inning of Wednesday night's game at Appalachian Power Park to help the Power erase a two run deficit and beat the Hickory Crawdads 6-4.

The Power scored first in the bottom of the second inning. Mike Bell crossed the plate on a wild pitch and Ryan Barba brought in Kenny Holmberg on an RBI groundout to give the Power 2-0 lead. Hickory answered with three in the top of the third inning to take the lead. The Crawdads scored all three runs with two outs. Shelby Ford knocked in the first run on a single and Brad Corley drove in the next two on a double. Corley struck again with two outs in the fifth inning with an RBI single to put Hickory on top 4-2.

In the bottom of the sixth inning Mat Gamel hit a two run homer to tie the game at 4-4. It was Gamel's first homerun at Appalachian Power Park since May 30th against Lakewood, and it was his 13th of the season. Two batters later Tony Festa gave West Virginia the lead for good with a two run blast, his fourth homer of the season.

Darren Ford stole two bases, giving him 58 on the year, three away from tying the franchise record and Lorenzo Cain went 1 for 4, to give him 144 hits on the year, six hits shy of the franchise record.

Dave Welch (5-6) pitched three fantastic innings out of the bullpen to get the win. He threw three scoreless innings of two hit ball and struck out six while Kevin Roberts (5) pitched a perfect ninth inning to get the save and Derek Antelo (2-4) got the loss. The Power are 64-56 on the year and 25-26 in the second half after the win while the Crawdads fell to 60-61 overall and 27-25 in the second half after the loss.

The Power will continue the four game series against the Hickory Crawdads at Appalachian Power Park on Thursday night. Right hander Blair Johnson (3-4, 4.95) will make the start for Hickory and the Power will counter with left hander Steve Garrison (5-5, 4.11). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.

Check out the Charleston Dirty Birds Statistics

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



South Atlantic League Stories from August 16, 2006


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