SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Power Shuts Down Captains

Published on June 30, 2009 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


Eastlake, OH (June 30, 2009) - Rudy Owens and Ryan Kelly combined to toss a nine-hit shutout and Erik Huber turned in his fourth four-hit game of the season as the West Virginia Power opened up their four game series with the Lake County Captains with a 3-0 victory at Classic Park on Tuesday night.

Tony Sanchez, Pittsburgh's first overall pick in this year's draft was very impressive in his Power debut. He caught Delvi Cid trying to steal second base twice and he snapped a scoreless tie in the sixth inning on an RBI single. Erik Huber began the inning with a double and scored on Sanchez's single.

Just a half inning later, Cid was on second base when Nick Recknagel singled into center field with two outs. Cid tried to score but was thrown out by Austin McClune to end the inning and preserve the 1-0 lead. Huber struck again for the Power in the top of the seventh inning on a run scoring single, and drove in another run on a base hit in the ninth inning.

Rudy Owens (9-1) extended his scoreless innings streak to 26, holding the Captains scoreless through six innings, allowed seven hits and struck out three in a winning effort. Ryan Kelly (5) kept the Captains off the board over the final three frames to snag the save. Alexander Perez (5-3) allowed a pair of runs on eight hits over six and a third and was tagged with the loss. The shutout victory was West Virginia's third of the season. The start of the contest was delayed an hour and 12 minutes due to wet grounds.

West Virginia improved to 31-44 overall, and 4-1 in the second half after the win, while the Captains fell to 35-38 overall and 4-2 in the second half after the loss. Huber's 4-for-5 performance extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He ended the month of June with 36 hits and 21 runs over 22 games. Austin McClune and Starling Marte turned in the other multi-hit games for the Power. McClune went 3-for-5 and has reached in 11 straight games, while Marte went 2-for-4 and has reached base in 12 out of his first 19 plate appearances with the Power. Eight out of nine Power batters reached base in the contest, including Robbie Grossman who extended his on base streak to 20 games, and Calvin Anderson who has now reached in 14 straight.

West Virginia will continue the four game series against the Lake County Captains at Classic Park on Wednesday morning. The Power will start right hander Quinton Miller (0-0, 0.00) and the Captains will counter with left hander T.J. House (2-7, 2.64). The first pitch will be delivered at 11:00 AM.

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South Atlantic League Stories from June 30, 2009


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