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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Potomac Pummels Blue Rocks, 11-1

August 23, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Woodbridge, VA - On a day an earthquake put the entire East Coast off-balance, the Potomac Nationals (60-66, 31-26) put the Wilmington Blue Rocks (59-66, 23-33) on their heels early en route to a lopsided 11-1 final in Tuesday night's series opener. The Blue Crew's fifth straight road loss dropped it to a league-worst 6-20 on the road this half and 7.5 games behind the P-Nats for a playoff spot with 13 games left.

Wilmington grabbed a brief 1-0 advantage in the first frame. John Whittleman's two-out single to right field made for his team-leading 67th RBI, sending Whit Merrifield in from third base. That would be the only run on the line of starter Sammy Solis. In his second start since missing more than two weeks due to elbow inflammation, the highly-touted prospect struck out six over four frames.

His offense gave him plenty of support including a two-run first. Sandy Leon's comeback single drove in the go-ahead tally with a two-out hit against Tyler Sample (7-12). Eight P-Nats batted the next frame as two singles, one on the infield, and three errors combined on a four-run frame. Jeff Kobernus, who finished the night with four hits, delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded to highlight the scoring.

The first five men reached to chase Sample in the fourth. He got the hook with the bases loaded after Steve Souza walked with the bases full and Leon singled in a second tally. Dusty Odenbach entered only to walk Zach Walters for a 9-1 margin. Otherwise, Odenbach enjoyed a solid night. He posted four scoreless innings with four strikeouts while the Blue Rocks' offense remained dormant.

After Whittleman's run-scoring two-out single in the first frame, Potomac pitching faced just three over the minimum, allowing two hits in that time. Reliever Neil Holland (3-0) succeeded Solis with three scoreless innings. Josh Smoker and Rob Wort polished off the lopsided affair with a perfect inning apiece.

Right-hander Gary Cuevas began the eighth for Wilmington with a walk, his first of two on the inning. Both free passes eventually came around to score on a two-out, two-run double to right by Francisco Soriano that rounded out the scoring.

The final series between the two Northern Division rivals continues on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. Wilmington tosses southpaw Allen Caldwell (1-0, 0.79) in a spot start against fellow lefty Evan Bronson (4-4, 3.43). Broadcast coverage begins at 6:35 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.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Brian Rupp's squad fell to a league-worst 6-20 (.231) on the road this half. The team is just 24-40 away from the Riverfront on the year.

No team owns a worse record in divisional play than Wilmington (19-35).

Tyler Sample has allowed 26 runs in five games, four starts and 19.1 innings against Potomac this season. He went three innings plus five batters on Tuesday, allowing nine runs (five earned) on eight hits and three walks.

Sample became the sixth Blue Rock ever to post 12 losses in a season. He is tied with three others for the third-most losses in a season by a Rock. Three of the other five that have dropped a dozen or more decisions in a campaign have reached the big leagues (Jeremy Affeldt, Tommy Hottovy and Brian Sanches).

In two outings as a Blue Rock, Gary Cuevas owns a 27.00 ERA, .571 batting average against and a WHIP of 7.00.

Jeff Kobernus finished the game 4-for-6 with a double, two RBIs, three runs scored and two stolen bases. He leads the Carolina League with 46 swipes on the campaign including a perfect nine-for-nine showing against the Blue Crew.

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