SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Power Lose Early Lead Again

July 19, 2009 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


Rome, GA (July 19, 2009) - For the fourth time in as many games, the West Virginia Power took an early lead, only to see it slip away as they dropped their seventh game in a row with a 12-6 loss to the Rome Braves on Sunday afternoon at State Mutual Stadium.

Kyle Morgan hit West Virginia's first homerun of the trip in the top of the first inning to put the Power on the board. It was a two run blast and it came in his first at bat with the Power. Braeden Schlehuber drove in a run in the bottom of the frame on a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to one. West Virginia got that run back one inning later when Adenson Chourio's base hit scored Bobby Spain to give the Power a 3-1 lead. However the Braves, as they had done so many times earlier in the series, had an answer. Chais Fuller belted an RBI single to pull them within a run and Ryan Barba's squeeze bunt brought in Samuel Sime to tie the game.

Rome pulled away with a four-run fourth inning and scored all four runs with two outs. Shayne Moody drove in the first two runs on a double and Joel Campusano belted a two-run homer to finish the inning. Quincy Latimore made it a three run game in the fifth inning after he began the inning with a double and scored on a wild pitch. West Virginia pulled within a run in the seventh when Jeremy Farrell smashed a two-run triple off the wall in center field, but the Power would not score again after that.

The Braves answered in the bottom of the seventh with their second four-run frame of the afternoon on back-to-back two-run doubles from Adam Milligan and Samuel Sime. The Braves added one more insurance run in the eighth on Joel Campusano's RBI single, which was his fourth hit of the day.

J.J. Hoover (4-4) allowed three runs on six hits over six innings and fanned four in a winning effort. Quinton Miller (0-2) was tagged for seven runs on six hits and walked three over four innings while suffering the loss. West Virginia committed two more errors in the contest, and they've committed 32 in their last 17 games.

West Virginia fell to 38-54 overall, and 11-11 in the second half after the loss, while the Braves improved to 44-50 overall and 9-15 in the second half after the win. Greg Picart turned in the only multi-hit game for the Power, going 3-for-4 with a trio of singles. Jeremy Farrell reached twice and brought is on base streak to 21 games. Quincy Latimore's double extended his hitting streak to five games and Austin McClune singled in the sixth inning to bring his hitting streak to six games. McClune is 7-for-18 on the road trip.

West Virginia will finish the four game series against the Rome Braves at State Mutual Stadium on Monday night. The Power will start right hander Rafael De Los Santos (0-3, 7.32) and the Rome Braves will counter with right hander David Francis (3-4, 3.60). The first pitch will be delivered at 7:00 PM.

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 19, 2009


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