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Charleston Dirty Birds

Power Sweep Grasshoppers

June 1, 2008 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


Greensboro, NC (June 1, 2008) - The West Virginia Power erased a three-run deficit on Sunday night at NewBridge Bank Park to win their fourth game in a row, sweeping the Greensboro Grasshoppers in a 7-5 victory.

Eric Farris's two-out single scored Curt Rindal in the third inning to give West Virginia the early lead. The Grasshoppers answered quickly, tying the game during the next half-inning when Hunter Mense's sacrifice fly scored Tyler Belcher. The Grasshoppers broke the tie in the fifth inning on Bryan Petersen's three-run homer. West Virginia tied the game with three in the sixth inning. Steffan Wilson singled in Matt Cline and Zelous Wheeler tied the game with a two-out double that scored Wilson and Jonathan Lucroy.

West Virginia had the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning when the only error of the game occurred, and it was costly for the Grasshoppers. Zelous Wheeler hit a groundball to the shortstop Emilio Ontiveros who flipped to second for the force out, but Caleb Gindl's hard slide into second base forced an awkward throw from second baseman Danny Garcia and the ball bounced a few times before it got past the first baseman Tyler Belcher which allowed two runs to score. Ryan Curry singled in a run in the bottom of the eighth to make it a one-run game. The Greensboro bullpen had not allowed an earned run in 32 consecutive innings going into the game, but that changed when Matt Cline delivered a big two-out single that scored Eric Fryer in the ninth.

Nick Tyson (2-1) allowed a run on a hit with a walk and struck out one batter over two and two-thirds to get the victory. Mike Ramlow (5) tossed a scoreless inning and two-thirds to secure the save. Steve Cishek (1-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing a pair of unearned runs over an inning and two-thirds. Evan Anundsen allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts through four and a third.

The Power improved to 23-32 with the win and the Grasshoppers fell to 28-28 with the loss. The victory improved West Virginia's road record to 16-15. West Virginia is now 20-7 all time at NewBridge Bank Park. Cline paced the Power with three hits, going 3-for-5 and Lucroy went 2-for-5, extending his hitting streak to six games. Lucroy has recorded five straight multi-hit games.

The Power will begin a two game series against the Lexington Legends at Appalachian Power Park on Monday night. Left hander Chris Cody (1-0, 1.80) will get the start for the Power and the Legends will counter with right hander Carlos Ladeuth (1-5, 4.39). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.

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