SAL1 Hagerstown Suns

Grace Spins Gem, Suns Roll Over Shorebirds

Published on August 12, 2011 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Hagerstown Suns News Release


Salisbury, MD- The Hagerstown Suns (64-52, 24-22) received outstanding pitching from LHP Matt Grace, the winning pitcher, to roll past the Delmarva Shorebirds (52-65, 17-30) by a score of 6-1 in series game three at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium on Friday night. The Suns are now (11-7) against Delmarva this season and Hagerstown owns a two games to one set advantage against the Shorebirds. The Suns came up just short of their twelfth shutout victory of the 2011 campaign.

Grace (11-5) spun 7.0 scoreless stanzas, the third time of the season he pitched through seven innings, allowing just one base hit, a single to 3B Ty Kelly in the 4th inning, while walking three and striking out four. Remarkably, Grace retired 16 Shorebirds via the groundout and allowed just one popout.

The contest began with a pitcher's duel through the first act as RHP David Baker (2-3), the losing pitcher of record, did not allow a run through three innings. Baker would go on to surrender three earned runs on seven hits, while walking one and fanning eight.

The Suns brought eight men to the plate in the 4th inning and tallied three runs. C David Freitas singled to the deep hole at shortstop, RF Kevin Keyes chopped a single through the left side of the infield, and SS Jason Martinson deadened a bunt single along the third base chalk. 1B Brett Newsome drew a bases loaded RBI walk to garner the first Hagerstown run. Then, with two outs, LF Wade Moore punched an RBI single to the six hole and RF Michael Taylor lined an RBI single to center field. Newsome was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a two-hop throw from CF Mikey Planeta.

Hagerstown added a supplementary run in the 6th stanza off LHP Cameron Roth when DH Adrian Nieto, as part of a 3-for-4 night at the plate which came up a home run shy of the cycle, cranked an opposite field triple to the right center field gap, and 3B Justin Cuevas dribbled an infield RBI single to the right of the pitcher's mound.

Suns RHP Shane McCatty silenced the Shorebirds with a one-two-three 8th inning as RF Brenden Webb popped out in foul ground on the third base side, Planeta struck out swinging, and 2B Michael Mooney grounded out to Kelso at second base.

With RHP Travis Strong pitching, the Suns garnered two more runs in the 9th inning when Strong walked the first three batters he faced, Moore, Taylor, and 2B Blake Kelso. With one out, Keyes lashed a two-RBI single back up the middle to plate Moore and Taylor giving the Suns a 6-0 lead.

In the last of the 9th inning, RHP Ben Graham allowed the Shorebirds to prevent a shutout when DH Riley Hornback knocked an infield single to Martinson at shortstop before Kelly walked, and LF Jeremy Nowak rifled a single to center field. A double play ball off the bat of C Michael Ohlman, although not rewarding the 'Birds catcher with an RBI, would get Delmarva on the board. Graham struck out 1B Jacob Julius swinging on a changeup to end the contest.

The game four finale in Salisbury, Maryland will feature a Saturday night 7:05pm first pitch. Wall-to-wall radio broadcast coverage will begin with a 6:50pm Break Away 2 Sports Lounge Pre-game Show on WJEJ AM 1240. The pitching matchup will bring Suns RHP A.J. Cole (3-6, 3.82) to face Shorebirds LHP Jarret Martin (5-8, 5.18).

Check out the Hagerstown Suns Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from August 12, 2011


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