CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Late Error Leads to Walk-Off Win for Wilmington

Published on August 13, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE- Andrelton Simmons' error on Ryan Stovall's smashed grounder toward short in the bottom of the ninth scored Nick Van Stratten and gave the Wilmington Blue Rocks a 3-2 walk-off win over the Lynchburg Hillcats on a misty Saturday night at Frawley Stadium.

The defensive miscue came with runners at first and third and nobody out in the final frame.

Van Stratten had opened the inning by ripping a one-hopper that caromed off the shoulder of Lynchburg third baseman Barrett Kleinknecht for an infield single.

John Whittleman followed with an infield single, which brought up Stovall.

Lynchburg elected to allow reliever Eliecer Cardenas (3-2) to try and strike Stovall out rather than loading the bases to setup the force.

The Hillcats did bring the infield in however, which seemed like it would pay off when Stovall hit one sharply right to the shortstop.

But when the ball slipped under Simmons' glove the Rocks' celebration could begin.

The game ending on an unearned run seemed appropriate considering most of the night belonged to the pitchers.

Wilmington starter Justin Marks and Hillcats hurler Chris Masters matched each other pitch for pitch.

Masters took a no-hitter into the sixth, while Marks retired 18 straight at one point.

Goose eggs reigned supreme on the scoreboard for the first five innings.

It was Wilmington that finally broke through first. Michael Liberto led off the inning with a walk and then was sacrificed to third by Deivy Batista.

He went to third when Whit Merrifield struck out, but reached safely on a wild pitch.

Yem Prades then came through with the Rocks' first hit of the night.

The outfielder's liner to right scored Liberto and gave the Blue Crew a 1-0 lead.

Wilmington added some insurance when Van Stratten followed with an RBI liner to left that plated Merrifield.

Lynchburg authored a response in the very next half-frame.

Phil Gosselin became the Hillcats' first base runners since the first inning when he drew a one-out walk in the seventh.

Marks then surrendered a single to Joey Terdoslavich that put runners at first and second.

Joe Leonard cut the deficit in half for Lynchburg when he singled past second and Christian Bethancourt tied the game with his subsequent sacrifice fly.

Masters finished his night after eight innings of two-run ball.

The left-hander fanned nine and yielded only three hits.

Marks ended his outing with six strikeouts.

He left with two men aboard in the eighth, but Bryan Paukovits came on from the bullpen and stranded both on base.

Paukovits (2-2) also kept Lynchburg off the board in the ninth to earn the win.

The Rocks wrap up their seven-game homestand on Sunday with a 1:35 p.m. encounter with the Hillcats.

Allen Caldwell (0-0, 0.00) makes his first start for Wilmington against Lynchburg right-hander Gary Moran (1-0, 0.00).

Broadcast coverage begins at 1:05 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.

For tickets call 302-888-BLUEor visit bluerocks.com.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from August 13, 2011


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