Power Crush Crawdads
June 21, 2009 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release
Hickory, NC (June 21, 2009) - Though the Hickory Crawdads scored six times in the bottom of the ninth inning of Sunday's game at L.P. Frans Stadium, the West Virginia Power scored 12 times on 16 hits, used five perfect innings from Rudy Owens and ended the first half with a 12-6 victory over the Crawdads.
The Power plated three runs in the top of the third to take the lead and never looked back. Austin McClune and Robbie Grossman provided run scoring singles and Jeremy Farrell's sacrifice fly scored McClune to finish the inning. Danny Bomback belted a solo homerun in the fourth inning to increase the Power lead before they scored four in the fifth, and four again in the sixth. Calvin Anderson singled in the first run of the fifth inning, giving him 41 RBI in 56 games. Bomback's RBI groundout scored Farrell to plate the second run of the inning and Adenson Chourio singled in the final two runs of the inning.
West Virginia got their final four runs of the game in the sixth inning. Erik Huber doubled in the first run before Anderson reached on Leury Garcia's error which allowed Huber to score. Quincy Latimore belted a two-run homer to plate West Virginia's final two runs. The Crawdads scored six times on eight hits in the ninth. Mike Bianucci belted a two-run homer and Matt West followed with a solo homerun. Leonel De Los Santos, Garcia and Andres James smacked run scoring singles to bring in the final three runs.
Rudy Owens (8-1) tossed five perfect innings and struck out seven batters to earn the victory. Owens has not allowed a run over his last three starts. He's tossed 20 scoreless innings and struck out 24 during that stretch. Jake Brigham (2-4) was tagged with the loss after allowing eight runs on nine hits over three innings of relief.
West Virginia improved to 27-43 after the win, and the Crawdads fell to 33-36 after the loss. Five players turned in multi-hit games, including Bomback, Huber and Chourio who paced the Power with three hits a piece. Huber went 9-for-18 in the series and extended his hitting streak to seven games. Robbie Grossman reached twice to extend his on base streak to 16 games. Jeremy Farrell reached for the tenth game in a row with a single in the fifth inning. The Power scored 37 runs on 55 hits during the four game series.
West Virginia will not play again until the second half begins on Thursday. They'll open up the second half with a four game series against the Greensboro Grasshoppers at NewBridge Bank Park. The Power will have three players in the 2009 South Atlantic League All-Star Game this Tuesday at Appalachian Power Park. The first pitch for the All-Star Game will be delivered at 7:35 PM.
South Atlantic League Stories from June 21, 2009
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- Legends Close Out First Half with 4-2 Win Over Greenville - Lexington Legends
- West Virginia Powers by Crawdads in First Half Finale - Hickory Crawdads
- Power Crush Crawdads - Charleston Dirty Birds
- BlueClaws Finish as Champions, Lose Finale - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- GreenJackets Celebrate Father's Day With 6-4 Win - Augusta GreenJackets
- Suns Lose First-Half Finale Against Shorebirds - Hagerstown Suns
- One Hit Wonder: Tourists shut out, 2-0 - Asheville Tourists
- Scelfo, Barnese power Hot Rods past Tourists - Bowling Green Hot Rods
- BlueClaws Make Splash with Comeback - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Hoppers keep bats going to grab sweep - Greensboro Grasshoppers
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