SAL1 Charleston RiverDogs

Power Short Circuits RiverDogs, 5-4

Published on July 12, 2008 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston RiverDogs News Release


For the second consecutive night West Virginia batted around in an inning, this time a five-run third, and the Power held on for a 5-4 victory over the Charleston RiverDogs in South Atlantic League action Saturday night in front of 4,440 fans at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.

The Power sent nine batters to the plate in the third and scored all five runs with two out against Lance Pendleton, upstaging a two home run performance by Charleston's Brandon Laird. West Virginia has now won eight consecutive games and 14 of their last 15 outings.

With the victory, the Power improve to 18-5 in the season's second half and 50-42 overall while the RiverDogs slip to 8-13 since the All-Star break and 53-38 on the season.

With two outs in the third and Charleston leading 2-0, Eric Fryer singled home West Virginia's first run on a perfectly executed hit and run. Then when the next batter Caleb Gindl struck out swinging on a low pitch, catcher Austin Romine couldn't handle the ball and it went to the backstop for a wild pitch.

The play scored Eric Farris with the tying run and left runners on the corners. The next batter was Zelous Wheeler, who drove home the go-ahead run with a single up the middle. Steffan Wilson completed the rally by driving home two more with a double to right center, handing the Power a comfortable 5-2 lead after three stanzas.

The RiverDogs had opened the game's scoring in the second inning when Bradley Suttle singled and was followed by Laird's two-run home run over the left center fence on an 0-2 pitch from Power starter R. J. Seidel. The round-tripper was Laird's second in two nights.

Charleston pulled to within one run at 5-4 in the bottom of the fourth, in almost identical fashion. Suttle singled and Laird followed with his second two-run homer of the game, this one came on a 2-2 pitch from Seidel that wrapped around the left field foul pole. Laird now leads the team with 11 round trippers.

Reliever Roque Mercedes (4-4) came in for Seidel in the fifth, and he finished the victory with five shutout innings of work with three hits allowed and four punchouts.

Charleston was held to seven hits as Suttle and Laird combined for four.

Anderson de la Rosa paced the Power's 10-hit attack with three while Eric Fryer added a pair.

Seidel went four full innings for the Power and allowed four runs on four hits while walking two and striking out two.

Pendleton went five complete innings and allowed five runs on seven hits while striking out seven and walking none. Craig Heyer threw three frames and surrendered three hits and fanned two while Chase Vacek faced only three batters in an uneventful ninth.

Game 3 of this four-game block is set for Sunday at 4:05 p.m. with Charleston sending southpaw Wilkins de la Rosa (4-3, 2.26 ERA) to the mound while West Virginia will counter with lefty Dan Merklinger (3-5, 5.94 ERA).

Check out the Charleston RiverDogs Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 12, 2008


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