EL1 Chesapeake Baysox

Patton Dominates As Baysox Take Home Opener

Published on April 16, 2009 under Eastern League (EL1)
Chesapeake Baysox News Release


BOWIE, MD - The Baysox opened the season under the lights at Prince George's Stadium for the 16th season, and it was the lights that helped them sneak past Akron 2-0. Lefty Troy Patton held Aeros hitters in check again, tossing six shutout innings while the Baysox offense did just enough against Akron starter Frank Herrmann.

The play of the game took place in the fourth inning, when Paco Figueroa led off the inning with a high fly ball deep to center field. John Drennen drifted back and saw nothing until the ball landed almost 50 feet from him on the warning track. Figueroa thought about going for the inside-the-park home run, but manager Brad Komminsk held him up at third with a triple. The hit also extended Figueroa's hitting streak to six games, which is now the best on the team after Brandon Snyder saw his streak come to an end at seven.

"That probably would have been my only home run of the season," Figueroa joked after the game, "If Brad was going to send me I was going to go."

After Jonathan Tucker lined out to third, it was Snyder who made the most of his hitless night by lifting a sac fly to Drennen in short center field, who saw the ball but was unable to nail Figueroa at the plate as he slid in safely to put the Baysox on top 1-0.

One run was enough for Patton, who held the Aeros scoreless for the second consecutive outing. Patton worked all of his pitches well and started to show some of the velocity he had before missing the 2008 season with shoulder surgery, going six innings allowing three hits and striking out six.

"They told me I was consistently throwing 86 to 89 mph touching 91," Patton said. "It was good to get out there for six innings and not have my arm hanging afterwards like it used to."

Patton kept the hitters off balance all night, mixing in some sinking fastballs and changeups to keep the Akron hitters from making solid contact. He also avoided the free pass after walking three in his first outing, but admitted that there is still some rust that needs to be shaken off.

"There are still things out there I need to do." Patton added. "That was the first grounder I've gotten since 2007."

Right hander Josh Perrault came out of the bullpen to relieve Patton in the top of the seventh, and immediately got help from his defense to preserve the one run lead. With one out, Nick Weglarz grounded a ball deep in the hole at short. Robert Valido was able to get to the ball tailing away from him and in one quick motion threw a rope to retire Weglarz. Not to be outdone, Niuman Romero followed with a looping line drive to center and Dave Krynzel made an acrobatic tumbling catch for the third out of the inning.

The Baysox tacked on one more run in the bottom of the eighth inning by taking advantage of a pair of miscues by the Aeros. Melvin Dorta started the inning off with a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line off reliever Neil Wagner. Dorta beat the throw to first and advanced to second after Carlos Santana's throw landed in the seats in right field. After moving to third on a fly out to center by Jeff Fiorentino, Dorta scored on a wild pitch by Wagner to give the Baysox a huge insurance run heading into the ninth inning.

Baysox southpaw Wilfrido Perez came on to close out the ninth inning. He came into the game having allowed just one hit and no earned runs through his first three appearances. Perez walked Josh Rodriguez to start the inning, and walked Carlos Santana two batters later to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Nick Weglarz. Perez got Weglarz to swing at a bad pitch, but he was able to tap it down the third base line. Perez made a great play to get to the ball, spun around, and fired a strike to first base just in time to nail Weglarz. The win was the Baysox fourth in a row as their record now stands at 5-3. It was Perez's third save in as many chances.

If there was one negative on the evening for the Baysox, it was seeing Brandon Snyder's and Jonathan Tucker's hitting streaks come to an end. Snyder had hit in all seven games on the season while Tucker had a hit in each of his last four contests.

The two teams will do battle again tomorrow when Baysox RHP Brandon Erbe (0-1, 3.00 ERA) goes up against RHP Josh Tomlin (0-1, 1.80). Game time is set for 7:05.

The Baysox 17th season as the class AA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles is underway! Don't miss a moment of the action as the Baysox attempt to bring home their first Eastern League championship. Individual game tickets and ticket packages are available now at www.baysox.com or by calling the Baysox box office at (301) 464-4865.

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Eastern League Stories from April 16, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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