CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Francis & Colon Homer, Wilmington Avoids Sweep

August 4, 2010 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Winston-Salem, NC - Nick Francis continued his month-long assault on Carolina League pitching with a triple, a homer and three RBIs as the Wilmington Blue Rocks (53-56, 21-18) rallied to beat the Winston-Salem Dash (62-46, 19-19), 9-5. The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Blue Crew and gave it a .500 record at the toughest park in full-season minor league baseball. Winston-Salem entered the night with a 37-17 home record. The Rocks' Wednesday win leveled their record at 5-5 at the brand new $50 million facility in the teams' final regular-season clash in North Carolina.

Christian Colon belted a solo homer off Winston-Salem starter Terry Doyle in the opening inning. His line drive shot went just inside the left-field foul pole for the 2010 first-round pick's second professional home run. Later in the inning, Francis swung at a 3-0 pitch and blasted an impressive effort over the tall batter's eye for a two-out, two-run homer and a 3-0 lead.

The Dash responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the first frame off Will Smith. Jon Gilmore and Josh Phegley each connected on a first-pitch swing for an RBI single and a one-run game, 3-2.

The third inning saw both Wilmington lose the lead and some controversy. Ozzie Lewis doubled in two runs for a 4-3 Winston-Salem advantage. The next batter, Jose Martinez, then bounced a ball back to Smith on the hill. The pitcher spun and caught Lewis standing halfway between second and third. He ran at the larger, slow-footed runner and chased him toward second. A flip of the ball found Rey Navarro on the sack and Lewis reversed field. Shortly after he did so, Lewis lost his footing and tumbled to the ground.

Smith applied a tag for what appeared to be the second out of the inning. Instead, umpire Sean Lampe called interference on Smith and awarded Lewis third base. Lewis, who grabbed Smith's foot from the ground for the only physical contact between the two, popped to his feet and darted after the Wilmington hurler. The umpires and Winston-Salem manager Joe McEwing had to restrain Lewis and escort him to third.

Manager Brian Rupp argued the call, but it stood. On the next pitch, Kyle Shelton doubled home Lewis and sent Martinez, who reached on a fielder's choice, to third. Consecutive groundouts followed to end the inning with a 5-3 score on the board.

The very next half inning, the first two Blue Rocks batters reached and scored to deadlock the game. Rene Oriental and Juan Rivera both singled at the start, while Colon collected an RBI with a groundout and Wil Myers singled in the second.

Reliever Charlis Burdie (2-2) began the seventh for the Dash with the score still tied, 5-5. Salvador Perez connected on his third hit of the night with a double to right, took third on a groundout to second by Navarro, and scored on a Phegley passed ball. A three-run ninth salted the Wilmington lead. Ernesto Mejia doubled in a run, Francis tripled in the second and Perez delivered a sacrifice fly to round out the scoring.

Smith (1-1) got the win with six innings of five-run ball. He gave up nine hits and no walks while striking out five. Three Rocks relievers, Ivor Hodgson, Kevin Chapman and Barry Bowden, each faced the minimum in single-inning efforts down the stretch.

With their final series in Winston-Salem, NC complete, the Blue Crew begins its final set in Salem, VA on Thursday evening. Right-hander Bryan Paukovits (3-3, 4.21) gets the nod against righty Mark Holliman (2-0, 1.23). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Nick Francis has hit nine home runs this season. Eight of them have come on the road and eight of them have come since July 4. Since the Fourth of July, only the Carolina League's overall home run leader, Tyler Moore of Potomac, has equaled Francis in round-trippers. In that span of time, Francis has hit .298 with 27 RBIs in 26 games, slugging .606 and posting an OPS of .945.

Adrian Ortiz collected his team-leading eighth triple on a two-hit night, tying him for third in the league in three-base hits. He also posted his league-leading 18th sacrifice in the fourth, which led to the game-tying rally.

Wil Myers went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. The North Carolina native, who grew up just 20 minutes away from the Dash's ballpark, went 9-for-13 (.692) on the series with three doubles and three runs scored. Through 29 games as a Blue Rock, he has hit .381 with 17 RBIs, a .492 on-base percentage and a .987 OPS.

Another prospect catcher, Salvador Perez, doubled twice on a 3-for-4 night with a sacrifice fly. Perez began the season as the Carolina League's youngest player at 19, while Myers currently claims that designation as he turns 20 on December 10.

With paid attendance announced at 3,947, Winston-Salem's season-long average checks in at 4,473. That number ranks second in the Carolina League, trailing just Wilmington's 4,586 fans-per-game average. The Blue Crew has led the loop in average attendance every year since the famed Durham Bulls departed for Triple-A after the 1997 campaign.

Winston-Salem entered the night with the best home winning percentage in the minors (37-17, .684). It has a winning record against every team in the CL, except Wilmington. The Blue Rocks, who entered the series 4-3 at the Dash's new downtown ballpark, still finished the regular season 5-5 there for sea-level success in its augural season.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics



Carolina League Stories from August 4, 2010


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