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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Merrifield's Double Leads to 7-4 Triumph

August 6, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Lynchburg, VA - An two-out rally in the eighth saw the Wilmington Blue Rocks (52-58, 16-25) pull ahead for a 7-4 series-tying win against the Lynchburg Hillcats (46-65, 16-25) at City Stadium on Saturday night. Four straight men reached, with three crossing the plate, in the crucial late frame. Despite blowing a pair of leads, the Blue Crew pulled even on the three-game set and in the second-half standings with the 'Cats.

Reliever Andrew Wilson (1-3) had allowed just two runs in 16.2 innings since the All-Star break including the first two outs of the eighth. Then came an infield hit by Gerard Hall off Wilson's glove. Whit Merrifield made the most of the opportunity, doubling in Hall to break up a 4-4 deadlock. Yem Prades doubled the next pitch to left for a 6-4 advantage.

Wilson struck out Nick Van Stratten thereafter, but Christian Bethancourt lost the ball in the dirt before errantly throwing it off a sprinting Van Stratten's back at first. John Whittleman's lone hit on the night made for his second RBI, plating Prades to round out the scoring.

In his second outing as a Blue Rock, Kendal Volz (3-3) secured his first Wilmington win with 2.2 scoreless innings of relief. He entered with a man on and one out in the seventh behind starter Elisaul Pimentel. On his first pitch, the runner, L.V. Ware, tried to steal second only to get gunned down by Jose Bonilla. Volz gave up a double to Joey Terdoslavich in the eighth, but rebounded with consecutive swinging strikeouts of Joe Leonard and Bethancourt. A perfect ninth ended his night, with a looking strikeout of Ware for the final out.

Both teams enjoyed first-inning advantages. The first three Blue Rocks batters reached on gentle contact to load the bases with nobody out. Whittleman's run-scoring fielder's choice to second produced the team's lone run in the inning. The first three Hillcats collected hits against Pimentel in the bottom half of the frame. Barret Kleinknecht's RBI double rounded out the hits. Terdoslavich followed with a sac fly to left. That would be the first of 15 straight men retired by Pimentel.

During that time, a three-run fifth put Wilmington ahead, 4-2. Tim Ferguson's two-out two-run double to left highlighted the scoring. His first-pitch contact also chased starter Dimasther Delgado.

A pair of bunt singles combined with a walk to load the bases in the sixth for Lynchburg with one out. Leonard drove in a run with a sac fly to center that drew the Hillcats within a run, 4-3.

Gerry Rodriguez led off the seventh with a double to right-center field. Keenan Wiley came on as a pinch-runner, taking third on Marcus Lemon's sac bunt. With the infield in, Ware stroked Pimentel's final pitch of the night past Hall at shortstop to forge the 4-4 tie.

The three-game set concludes at 6:05 p.m. on Sunday night. Wilmington right-hander Tyler Sample (6-9, 5.73) bids for his first win in five starts as he faces southpaw Blaine Sims (3-6, 3.68). 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.

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Carolina League Stories from August 6, 2011


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