CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rally Rocks Strike Again

Published on August 27, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Lynchburg, VA - For the second time in 55 times this season, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (64-65, 32-27) have won a game they trailed after eight innings. Both such successes have come this week as the Carolina League playoff race hits the stretch run. Much like their first rare rally in the ninth for a 14-inning win at Potomac on Monday, Friday saw the Rocks play free baseball on the comeback track as they defeated the Lynchburg Hillcats (57-72, 28-31) in 12 innings, 8-7. Salvador Perez drove in four runs including a homer to lead the offensive and Nick Francis hammered home the go-ahead score in a three-run 12th. The Blue Rocks have won four of their last five.

The Blue Rocks did not enjoy a lead on the game until exploding in that fateful final frame. It started, innocently enough, with one out, the bases empty and Wil Myers down 0-2 in the count against Doug Salinas (0-1). The Carolina League's youngest player at 19 fought back with patience to work a walk. Ernesto Mejia followed with a single to right, setting the stage for Francis' RBI double to left-center and the team's first lead on the night, 6-5.

Perez followed with a sac fly to right and Eddie Prasch blooped a double to right for another RBI and an 8-5 advantage. All of those scores would prove necessary.

After twirling a pair of scoreless innings, southpaw reliever Ryan Dennick (2-0) saw the first two Hillcat batters in the 12th, Miguel Rojas and Brodie Greene, both single. Dennick then silenced a pair of successive power bats in Cody Puckett and Neftali Soto with outs in the air, but got the hook after walking Chris Richburg to load the bases.

Wilmington manager Brian Rupp brought on Manauris Baez, who allowed a two-run single to Ryan LaMarre for a one-run game. He would hold the Hillcats there though, by inducing a groundout to third off the bat of Josh Fellhauer to end the game for his second save in as many tries.

A back-and-forth game saw four straight run-scoring half-innings from the bottom of the second through the top of the fourth. Lynchburg led by as many as two twice in that stretch, but Perez closed the second gap with a two-run homer to left-center.

The ‘Cats scratched out single scores in the sixth and seventh for a third two-tally advantage at 5-3. The sixth-inning run came in starter Aaron Crow's final frame. The two-time first-round pick allowed four scores over six innings, walking one while whiffing seven. He departed on the hook for his third loss in five Wilmington starts.

Perez picked up a two-out RBI single to draw the Blue Crew within one in the eighth and Adrian Ortiz bounced a run-scoring double up the middle to tie the game in the ninth.

The Blue Rocks' final road series of the regular season continues on Saturday evening at 6:05 p.m. Southpaw Buddy Baumann (4-2, 2.32), 1-0 in four starts this month with a 1.59 ERA, gets the ball against right-hander Josh Ravin (2-0, 0.00), who has allowed just two unearned runs over his first 16 innings with Lynchburg.

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Carolina League Stories from August 27, 2010


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