SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Power Surge Late To Beat Crawdads

Published on August 9, 2009 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


Hickory, NC (August 9, 2009) - The West Virginia Power scored all nine of their runs in the final five innings of Sunday afternoon's contest at L.P. Frans Stadium to surge past the Hickory Crawdads with a 9-4 victory.

Jeremy Farrell put the Power on the board with a solo homer in the top of the fifth inning, his fifth of the year to give the Power a 1-0 lead. The Crawdads answered quickly as Cristian Santana began the bottom of the frame with his 11th homer of the season to tie the game. Greg Picart was hit by a pitch with one out in the top of the sixth inning, and on an errant throw on a pickoff attempt by catch Leonel De Los Santos, Picart moved over to third base before scoring the go-ahead run on Tony Sanchez's sacrifice fly.

Kyle Morgan knocked in West Virginia's next run on an RBI single in the seventh inning before Sanchez struck again with a two-run homer in the eighth, his third of the season to give the Power a 5-1 lead. Eric Fry belted a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning to make it a three-run game for the Crawdads. West Virginia pulled away with four runs in the ninth. Startling Marte extended his on base streak to 32 games and his hitting streak to 22 in his final at bat with a three-run triple, and he scored West Virginia's final run on Greg Picart's third single of the contest. Santana belted a two-run homer, his second of the contest in the ninth inning off Wilson Ortiz, but it was too little and too late for the Crawdads.

Hunter Strickland (2-0) tossed six strong innings, allowing just a run on four hits with a strikeout to earn his seventh victory of the season. He's 2-0 with the Power, but 7-4 including his numbers with Greenville. Cody Eppley (1-2) was tagged for four runs on five hits over three innings of relief and was tagged with the loss.

West Virginia improved to 48-61 overall, and 21-18 in the second half after the victory, while the Crawdads fell to 54-57 overall and 21-21 in the second half after the loss. Greg Picart and Kyle Morgan paced the Power with three hit a piece. Jeremy Farrell and Adenson Chourio also turned in two-hit performances as well. Austin McClune singled in the seventh inning to extend his on base streak to 17 games.

West Virginia will continue the four game series with the Hickory Crawdads at L.P. Frans Stadium on Monday night. The Power will start right hander Gabriel Alvarado (5-9, 4.97) and the Crawdads will counter with right hander Joe Wieland (3-3, 4.67). The first pitch will be delivered at 7:00 PM.

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South Atlantic League Stories from August 9, 2009


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