CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Improbable Two-Out Rally Stuns Blue Crew

Published on July 23, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Kinston, NC - For the third straight night, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (46-51, 10-18) fell from ahead. After tying a season-high mark by blowing a four-run lead on Thursday, the team let a five-run advantage slip through its fingers on Friday. Then came Saturday and one of the more unexpected comebacks of the year courtesy of the Kinston Indians (55-41, 17-10) in an 11-8 finish. The Blue Rocks have lost eight of nine and 18 of their last 26.

With the bases empty and two outs in the eighth inning, the host K-Tribe trailed 8-5. But the Southern Division's first-place squad found a way. Five straight two-out hits concluded with a game-tying squeeze bunt from Tyler Holt. Reliever Bryan Paukovits (1-2) then walked Casey Frawley to load the bases before Anthony Gallas' grounder went off the glove of Kurt Mertins for a two-run error and a 10-8 score. Jeremie Tice added a just-fair single down the right-field line to make it 11-8. Tice's greedy turn at first sacrificed what would have been a 12th tally, as Nick Van Stratten threw him out at second base before Gallas could cross.

Toru Murata secured his second save with a 1-2-3 ninth while fellow reliever Trey Haley (1-0) earned the win. Paukovits allowed six runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk over two innings of work to take the loss.

The back-and-forth game continued the seesaw ride that has been this road trip for the Blue Rocks. Wilmington put its first four men on base and got two of them in against T.J. House in the first inning. Run-scoring singles by Van Stratten and Ryan Stovall were followed by a lineout and a walk to load the bases with one away. However, Julio Rodriguez bounced into a double play to end the threat.

Kinston got its first three men on base and pushed all of them home in the bottom half of the frame against Justin Marks. Gallas, Tice and Abner Abreu picked up the RBIs as the Indians took their lone lead until their eighth-inning rally.

Van Stratten tied it with a sacrifice fly in the second and Deivy Batista gave Wilmington the lead with an infield hit to third the next inning. Gallas knotted it up with his double in the third while the Blue Crew grabbed its first three-run advantage in the middle innings.

House gave up four runs (three earned) over just four innings of work. His successor, Francisco Jimenez, promptly allowed two runs after entering in the fifth thanks to a pair of singles, a wild pitch, a sac bunt, a walk and Batista's squeeze bunt. Mertins doubled in an insurance run in the top of the sixth to make it 7-4, yet Kinston continued its resolve with a no-doubt-about-it homer to left-center by Abreu in the bottom half. Despite allowing five runs over six innings, Marks left his outing with seven strikeouts in line for the win.

Stovall singled in an insurance run with two outs in the eighth against Haley. That one run would not prove enough though.

The Blue Rocks' final game at Grainger Stadium, barring a meeting in the Mills Cup Championship Series, comes at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Wilmington right-hander Tim Melville (7-6, 3.94) returns to the rotation with his first start since July 3. Kinston counters with Steven Wright (1-2, 4.18). Broadcast coverage begins at 1 p.m. as studio host Adam Dobrowolski brings fans the Rocks Report Pre-game Show, presented by Wawa, on 89.7 WGLS-FM and online at wgls.rowan.edu.

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Carolina League Stories from July 23, 2011


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