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SAL1 Charleston RiverDogs

RiverDogs Game Notes: April 5, 2018 (Game 1)

April 5, 2018 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston RiverDogs News Release


Right-hander Daniel Ramos spun five shutout innings and the RiverDogs used a hot start to jump out to a 2-0 lead, but the Myrtle Beach Pelicans responded with six off the bullpen and stole Tuesday night's exhibition opener, 6-4, in front of a crowd of 2,892 at Joe Riley Park.

Charleston jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom half, all started by infielders Oswaldo Cabrera and Wilkerman Garcia, who led off the frame with a single and a double, respectively. Right fielder Steven Sensley plated the first run with an RBI groundout and two batters later, left fielder Leonardo Molina roped a double on the first pitch he saw into left field to drive in another.

Myrtle Beach rallied for the next six runs in the ballgame, getting to the Charleston bullpen in the sixth and seventh. Chad Martin struggled with command, walking three and yielding a pair of runs in the sixth, before southpaw Anderson Severino (0-1) issued three more free passes and was charged with four earned runs in the seventh to suffer the loss. Charleston mounted a comeback in the eighth that fell short, plating a pair to make it a two-run game

Doggie Bites:

- Opening Night History: Going back to the 2000 season, the RiverDogs are 8-10 in season openers, including a 3-2 mark when starting their campaign on the road. 2018 marks a rematch of last season's Opening Night at The Joe, when Lexington spoiled the Dogs' home opener with a 6-3 victory. The Legends jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning in front of a sellout crowd and never looked back. Khalil Lee went 3-for-4 with a home run and Nolan Watson gave up one unearned run in four innings of work despite walking five. The RiverDogs went on to take the final three games of the series.

- A Historic Season in the Lowcountry: The RiverDogs are coming off one of their most successful seasons to date both on and off the field in 2017. In a memorable season of broken records, the RiverDogs over 300,000 fans through the gates in for the first time in franchise history while the club posted their second straight 77-win season and a playoff appearance. Charleston has never made three consecutive trips to the playoffs in club history.

- Pinstriped Prospects: Once again, the RiverDogs will tap into one of the premier farm systems in baseball with the New York Yankees. Recently rated the second-best farm system by Baseball America pre-season and the sixth-best by MLB.com, the Bronx Bombers boast five of MLB.com's Preseason Top-100 prospects. Charleston's Opening Day roster features three of the Yankees' Top-30 prospects (MLB.com, BA): RHP Glen Otto (#20, #19), RHP Nick Nelson (No. 28, --), and INF Oswaldo Cabrera (--, #26). In 2017, the Yankees led all of baseball in organizational winning percentage (.602) between the Major and minor leagues and featured seven of their eight domestic affiliates in the postseason.

- Get to Know the Dogs: The RiverDogs' Opening Day roster is represented by nine international players (5 from Venezuela, 4 from the Dominican Republic) and 12 U.S. states (Calif, Fla, Ga, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Texas). 16 have collegiate baseball experience, including two SC products: JP Sears (The Citadel) and OF Dom Thompson-Williams (South Carolina).

- Familiar Faces: Twelve members of the RiverDogs' Opening Day roster all spent time with the Charleston club last season, including eight players who all saw action in the RiverDogs' postseason run. In a thrilling game two in Greenville of the SAL Division Series, Dom Thompson-Williams led off the seventh inning with a single in a 0-0 game and eventually scored on a Diego Castillo RBI knock. Closer Matt Wivinis pinned down the postseason save that evened the series up. Steven Sensley was sidelined with a lower-body injury during the postseason run, but electrified with four homers in just 21 games after an August 1 call up from Pulaski, including a memorable go-ahead grand slam on August 16 vs Greenville at The Joe.

- Pitching Wins Championships: The Yankees continued to show an emphasis on pitching in last year's draft, using 28 of their 40 picks on amateur arms, despite already possessing one of the strongest MiLB pitching crops in the game (21 of the Yankees Top-30 according to MLB.com are pitchers). The Bronx Bombers convinced 17 of the hurlers taken in the draft to sign, including four who open the season with Charleston (Lehnen, Otto, Whitlock, and Zurak).

- Racking Up K's: The RiverDogs have enjoyed a dominant pitching staff the past two seasons under the tutelage of returning pitching coach Justin Pope and a talented crop of Yankee prospects. Charleston has set the franchises strikeout record each of the last two seasons, including an unprecedented 1.252 K's in 2017, while leading the SAL in ERA each of the last two seasons. By ERA, the last two years have been the two most productive in RiverDogs history, and second only to the SAL-record set by the 1988 Charleston Rainbows in the history of the franchise.

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