SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Power Ties Game in Ninth but Falls in Tenth

Published on May 23, 2011 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


The West Virginia Power lost 6-5 in ten innings to the Lakewood BlueClaws at Appalachian Power Park on Monday. The Power tied the game in the bottom of the ninth on a solo home run, but the BlueClaws offense came through in the tenth to provide the winning run.

Lakewood took a 1-0 lead against Jameson Taillon in the first inning two hits and added a run in the second on two more singles to build a 2-0 edge.

West Virginia evened the score in the home half of the second. Matt Curry walked and Justin Howard doubled to start the inning. Kawika Emsley-Pai singled home Curry, and Mel Rojas Jr. plated Howard on a sacrifice fly.

Each team scored a run in the fifth, including a run scoring single by Drew Maggi, and the game remained tied until the bottom of the seventh. Eric Avila hit a solo home run to left off of BlueClaws reliever Lisalberto Bonilla to put West Virginia up 4-3 and stake the Power to its first lead in the series since Friday night.

Lakewood responded in the eighth with back-to-back home runs by Michael Dabbs and Anthony Hewitt to regain the advantage at 5-4.

In the bottom of the ninth, Rogelio Noris drove a 1-2 pitch from Juan Sosa over the left field wall to tie the game at five. It was Noris's second home run of the season and first at Appalachian Power Park. He is now tied for seventh in Power history on the all-time home runs list, matching Andrew LaFave with 17.

In the tenth, Domingo Santana walked with two outs and was replaced by pinch runner Miguel Alvarez. Torre Langley struck out on a wild pitch that bounced over the screen behind home plate and put runners at first and second. Aaron Altherr singled softly to center and Alvarez scored for a 6-5 BlueClaws lead.

The Power put the tying run on with two outs in the last of the tenth, but Curry was stranded at second when Jay Johnson struck out Howard.

Waldron (4-2) took the loss, while Sosa (2-0) was charged with a blown save and earned the win. Johnson got the final out for his first save of the season.

The extra inning game was the first of the year for the Power. They were the only team in the entire South Atlantic League who had not played an extra inning game yet this season.

West Virginia has Tuesday off and will travel to Salisbury, MD to open a four game series against the Delmarva Shorebirds on Wednesday night. The Power will return to Appalachian Power Park to open a series against the Hickroy Crawdads on Sunday, May 29, and 4:05 pm.

POWER RECORD: 20-23

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South Atlantic League Stories from May 23, 2011


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