Pilots clinch playoff berth with 8-3 win
August 1, 2015 - Coastal Plain League (Coastal Plain)
Peninsula Pilots News Release
PETERSBURG, Va. - The Peninsula Pilots snapped a two-game skid with an 8-3 victory and clinched a playoff berth in their final regular season road game against the Petersburg Generals on Friday night at the Petersburg Sports Complex.
The Pilots (27-23, 12-13) inched closer to a playoff berth with the win while the Generals (25-28, 15-11) fell for their fourth straight loss and have almost completely eliminated themselves from playoff contention.
The two teams traded zeroes for the first three innings before an RBI groundout by Kyle Beam (Lane CC) scored Jimmy Kerrigan (VCU) scored the first run of the game in the fourth inning.
Connor Myers (Old Dominion) belted his fourth home run of the season with a solo shot to put the Pilots ahead 2-0 in the fifth inning. A couple batters later, Dom Thompson-Williams (South Carolina) connected for his third home run of the season to put the Pilots up 3-0. Kerrigan followed with a walk and came around to score on Nick Lustrino's (Old Dominion) RBI single to take a 4-0 advantage through five innings.
Thomas Busbice (Old Dominion) kept the Generals off the board for the first five innings before running into some trouble in the sixth. Randy Loew (Francis Marion) drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on Joe Schrimpf's (Arkansas State) triple for the first run of the game for the Generals. Carlos Lopez (Dominican College) followed with a RBI single to cut the deficit to two. After a pitching change, the Generals threatened to add more runs but Joel Taylor (Southeast Missouri State) got a ground ball out to strand the bases loaded.
Peninsula quickly responded with four runs in the seventh inning to give themselves some breathing room. Making his Pilots season debut, fan favorite Garrett Brooks (East Carolina) led off the inning with an infield single before moving to third on Thompson-Williams' double. After a walk to Kerrigan loaded the bases, a fielder's choice by Lustrino tacked on a run to push the lead to 5-2. Kurt Sinnen (Old Dominion) followed with a two-run single before Luke Toms (Lee) capped the scoring with a RBI on a fielder's choice.
Petersburg tacked on a run in the eighth inning on a RBI double by Schrimpf but could not get any closer.
Busbice picked up his first win of the season to move to 1-2 on the season. The right-hander gave up two runs on three hits while striking out two in 5 1/3 innings of work. Taylor got the final two outs in the sixth while stranding the bases loaded. Carson Herndon (Liberty) followed with two innings, giving up a run while Dario Santangelo (Mount Olive) pitched the ninth to close out the victory.
Connor Alford (Georgia College & State) took the loss to fall to 2-1 on the season. The right-hander gave up four runs in 4 2/3 innings of work.
The Pilots are back home on Saturday when they host Wilson for a doubleheader starting at 6:05. For more information regarding the season, please visit www.peninsulapilots.com. For up to the minute details on Pilots Baseball be sure to "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @PeninsulaPilots. Use the #PilotsNation to spread the word about the Pilots!
• Discuss this story on the Coastal Plain League message board...
Coastal Plain League Stories from August 1, 2015
- Pilots clinch playoff berth with 8-3 win - Peninsula Pilots
- SwampDogs Cracked by Steamers - Fayetteville SwampDogs
- HiToms Rally Past Blowfish - High Point-Thomasville HiToms
- Steamers Strike out Blowfish - Lexington County Blowfish
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.
