AtL Somerset Patriots

Patriots Sweep Twinbill Over York Behind Stellar Pitching

Published on August 7, 2011 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Somerset Patriots News Release


York, PA - Chris Oxspring tossed the first Somerset shutout in over two years while Derell McCall allowed just one run as the Patriots swept a doubleheader from the York Revolution 2-0 and 9-1 at Sovereign Bank Stadium on Sunday night.

Oxspring (2-5) was locked in early, striking out the sides in the 3rd and 4 th frames. Oxspring needed just 90 pitches to toss 7.0 innings of five-hit shutout baseball, striking out a jaw-dropping 12 batters - a season-high for a Patriot pitcher. The shutout was the third of Oxspring's career and first since August 13, 2005 as a member of Triple-A Portland. For Somerset, it was the first complete-game shutout since Jim Magrane blanked Camden for 7.0 innings on June 13, 2009.

The only offense Somerset would need was two solo homers. Josh Pressley sent a fly ball that carried over the Arch Nemesis wall in left field in the 4thoff Sean Stidfole to put Somerset in front. Elliott Ayala came up in the 6th with a shot off of Ronnie Morales - just the 18th of Ayala's career which has spanned 984 games, 13 of which have come as a Patriot in 505 games. Stidfole (2-4) suffered the loss after starter Matt DeSalvo, coming off an injury, only tossed 2.0 innings.

Meanwhile, McCall (4-5) took the ball in the nightcap after pitching an inning on Saturday night in the rained-out affair. McCall delivered big, allowing just one-run in 5.0 frames on a Chris Nowak homer. McCall yielded just three hits and retired the final 11 men he faced. Jeff Kennard and Ryan Houston threw 2.0 frames of perfect relief as Patriot pitching retired the final 17 Revs of the game.

The Patriots got going early against starter Kevin Mannix in the 1st. A pair of York errors led to a Pressley sac fly before Joe Burke banged a three-run homer - his first of the season - off Mannix (0-1) to put Somerset in front 4-0 for McCall. The Patriots added one in the 2nd as Mannix tossed 4.0 innings, yielding five runs with just one of the earned. Three Patriots scored in the 5th off Jack Spradlin and one more came in on Morales in the 6 th. Burke drove in four runs in the game while Pressley added two more as the Patriots won just their second road series of the season.

Somerset (7-16, 33-53) looks for its second sweep of the season and first on the road on Monday night against York (12-11, 48-38). A pair of lefties square off when Derrick Gordon (7-2, 2.01) and Jesus Sanchez (1-2, 9.35) take the bump with coverage beginning at 6:30 pm on 1450 WCTC-AM and www.wctcam.com.

NOTES: The Patriots only other sweep this year came May 27-29 at home against the Road Warriors...the 12 strikeouts by Oxspring was the most since Justin Jones struck out 12 on July 18 of last year...12 of Ayala's 13 career Patriot homers have come in road ballparks...the win was the biggest of the season series for either team. The largest margin in a final this year was four in York's 7-3 win on June 14. The first 10 meetings had been decided by a total of 17 runs.

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