CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Melville Masterful as Rocks Blank K-Tribe

Published on July 29, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - Tim Melville and John Whittleman combined on Friday night to snap the Wilmington Blue Rocks out of their recent funk.

Melville fanned five and walked only one as he tossed seven scoreless frames, while Whittleman reached base three times, drove in three runs and authored a bomb of a homer.

The result was a 4-0 Wilmington win over the Kinston Indians at Frawley Stadium, only the Rocks' third victory in their last 15 games.

Whittleman was the offensive catalyst, and helped his hurler by providing an early cushion.

The third baseman watched Whit Merrifield and Kurt Mertins open the game with a pair of singles.

He then came to the plate one out later and sent a Mike Rayl pitch soaring deep into the Wilmington night.

Whittleman's bomb cleared both fences in right field and put the Rocks on top, 3-0.

Melville (8-6) made the lead stick with his sharpest stuff of the season.

The right-hander pitched around a first-inning walk, but proceeded to retire the next 10 batters he faced.

He took a no-hitter into the fifth and sat down the side in order five different times.

Kinston's only threat of the evening came in the fifth.

Jesus Aguilar ended Melville's brief flirtation with a no-no by sending a soft liner to left for a leadoff single.

That was followed by Tyler Cannon's gentle pop up that found open real estate in shallow right.

The K-Tribe had men at first and second with no outs until Melville induced a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Jordan Casas.

All of the sudden there was two gone and just a single runner at third.

That man would be stranded there when Melville ended the frame by getting Justin Toole to fly out softly to left.

Wilmington capped the scoring in the very next half-frame thanks to some help by the shaky Kinston defense.

Deivy Batista opened the inning with a bunt up the first-base line.

Rayl (0-1) hurried off the mound and made an ill-advised, inaccurate throw that sailed all the way into right field.

What should have been a simple bunt single was compounded by a two-base error that put a runner at third with nobody out.

After Merrifield grounded out to short, Kinston brought the infield in.

The move should have paid off by cutting down a run at the plate when Mertins sent a grounder right to Argenis Martinez at second base.

But Martinez rushed his throw home and it short-hopped away from catcher Adam Abraham allowing Batista to slide in safely.

The run gave the Rocks a 4-0 advantage.

Wilmington continues its three-game set with Kinston on Saturday at 6:05 p.m.

Michael Mariot (6-3, 3.22) takes the Frawley Stadium hill for the Blue Crew against Kinston right-hander Clayton Cook (6-7, 4.40).

Broadcast coverage begins at 5:35 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-BLUE or visit bluerocks.com.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from July 29, 2011


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