SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Lewis's Shot Lifts Power

Published on August 31, 2012 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


The West Virginia Power beat the Delmarva Shorebirds 3-2 at Appalachian Power Park on Friday night. Taylor Lewis's solo home run in the eighth inning broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Power a win in the opener of the final series of the season.

Nick Kingham made his league-best 27th start of the year and began with a flourish, striking out the side on 11 pitches in the first inning. In the home half of the second, West Virginia backed Kingham with his first run of support. Dan Gamache doubled and scored on a single by Francisco Diaz for a 1-0 lead. Gamache's two base hit was his 38th of the year and matched Caleb Gindl's 2008 Power record for doubles.

West Virginia added a run in the fourth off Delmarva starter Miguel Chalas. Gregory Polanco singled to lead off the inning and scored on a double by Jose Osuna to push the Power up 2-0.

Kingham made the support stand up over the first six innings, allowing just one hit while striking out seven. Pitching into the seventh for the first time in his professional career, the right-handed allowed two runs on four hits to see the Shorebirds even the score at 2-2. Kingham added two strikeouts for a team-best nine. No Power pitcher had struck out more than eight in any game this season.

West Virginia had the go-ahead run aboard twice in the bottom of the seventh, but could not regain the lead.

Robbie Kilcrease pitched a three-up, three-down eighth. In the home half of the inning with two outs, Lewis hit a 3-1 pitch from Shorebird reliever Alex Schmarzo over the right field wall to put the Power up 3-2.

Nathan Kilcrease faced three batters in the top of the ninth for his 14th save, matching Robert Hinton's 2005 Power record for saves in a single season.

Robbie Kilcrease (2-2) garnered the win while Schmarzo (0-1) took the loss. Gamache had the only multi-hit game for West Virginia. In the seventh, the infielder reached on his club record 39th double of the season. Six other players contributed one hit to the offensive attack. The victory guaranteed that West Virginia will finish the second half with a winning record.

The Power and Shorebirds play the second of this four game series on Saturday evening at Appalachian Power Park. Robby Rowland and Williams Louico will toe the rubber for West Virginia and Delmarva, respectively, with a 7:05 pm first pitch scheduled.

SECOND HALF RECORD: 36-31

OVERALL RECORD: 59-78

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South Atlantic League Stories from August 31, 2012


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