CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks Bust out Broom against Potomac

Published on May 23, 2012 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - Wilmington Blue Rocks (22-23) manager Vance Wilson has harped on defending his club's home turf. They did so again on Wednesday morning en route to a 3-0 victory over the Potomac Nationals (18-25) at Frawley Stadium. The Rocks finished up their homestand at 5-1.

With solid pitching and clutch hitting when they needed it, the Rocks capped off their fourth straight win and seven of their last eight. The Rocks got an early run and tacked on more later to close out the series.

Brett Eibner led off the fourth inning with a walk against Potomac starter Matt Grace. After two groundouts from Cheslor Cuthbert and Roman Hernandez, Jose Bonilla bounced a ball up the middle that Potomac shortstop Zach Walters dove for and came up with. He got to his feet and lofted the ball high in the air to first base. Bonilla beat it by a step before it hit the mitt of first baseman Justin Bloxom to allow Eibner to score the first run of the ballgame at 1-0.

The Nationals had a chance in the sixth inning, but were denied by Rocks pitching and the umpires as well. After Wilmington starter Tyler Sample walked Rick Hague, Jon Keck was called upon to get out of the jam. Keck struck out a pair around a basehit before dealing with Adrian Sanchez. Sanchez bounced a ball to shortstop Michael Liberto. Liberto sailed it a bit high but Juan Graterol came off the bag and made a swipe attempt at Sanchez, who was originally ruled safe by base umpire Rich Gonzalez. Manager Vance Wilson came out to argue. Gonzalez decided to chat with home plate umpire Jansen Visconti to see if he saw anything different. After a minute discussion, Gonzalez changed his decision to an out which ended the inning. Nats manager Brian Rupp came out to restrain Sanchez who was in the face of Gonzalez after the reversed call. After Sanchez was escorted back to the dugout, Rupp argued the call but to no avail as the game stayed at 1-0 going to the bottom of the sixth.

Opportunity knocked again in the seventh and eighth innings for the P-Nats. After an infield single by Randolph Oduber, Erick Fernandez bunted back to Keck who fired to Liberto at second for the lead out, who then ripped it over to the covering Whit Merrifield at first base for a double play.

Potomac hit into another twin-killing in the eighth. After a single onto the short outfield grass by JP Ramirez, Hague flew out to Geulin Beltre in right field. With the ball smoked so hard, Beltre came up throwing as Ramirez hit the brakes halfway en route to second base. Graterol received the Beltre launch to retire Ramirez for a double play.

With full momentum, the Rocks added to their lead in eighth. Merrifield singled with one out to left center. Trying to keep him close, Matt Grace attempted a pickoff but the ball was dropped by Bloxom at first allowing Merrifield to escape to second base. Eibner smashed a single into left which scored Merrifield for a 2-0 lead. The next man in Cuthbert hit a rocket to the left center field gap that died at the wall for an RBI double and a 3-0 advantage for Wilmington.

Sample (1-5) picked up his first victory of the year. He went five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and four walks, while racking up six strikeouts. Keck followed with three scoreless innings and Sam Runion finished it off with a scoreless frame in the ninth for his first save.

After a sweep of Potomac, the Blue Rocks have an off day on Thursday before heading to Myrtle Beach for a weekend series with the Pelicans starting on Friday at 7:05 p.m. It will be a rematch of Saturday's ballgame with Wilmington right-hander Jason Adam (1-6, 2.82) facing Pelicans righty Nick Tepesch (2-3, 4.06), the man who was part of a combined no-hitter for Myrtle Beach last weekend at Frawley Stadium. Broadcast coverage begins at 6:35 p.m. as studio host Rob Cunningham brings fans the Rocks Report Pre-game Show, presented by Wawa, on 89.7 WGLS-FM and online at wgls.rowan.edu.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

With the win on Tuesday, the Blue Rocks have clinched their second straight series. They had not won two straight series since May 20-25, 2011, when they swept Myrtle Beach in a three-game set and took two of three from Frederick.

This is also the Blue Rocks first home win streak of three in a row in 2012. They had not done it since they swept the final weekend series against Frederick last year from September 3-5. The last time the Blue Rocks won four straight home games spanned a timeframe from August 12-21 of last year. They won the last two games of a set against Lynchburg on August 12 and 13. The Rocks then won back-to-back doubleheaders against Salem on August 20 and August 21.

For the Rocks, they also reached a season best on Wednesday with their fourth consecutive win. They had done it earlier in the season from April 20-24 when they took a pair of games each at Winston-Salem and Salem.

The Rocks picked up their third shutout of the season. Tyler Sample threw five frames, Jon Keck handled three, and Sam Runion put a bow on top in the ninth inning on Wednesday. They shutout Potomac twice in three days after Greg Billo and Leondy Perez did the honors on Monday.

The Rocks swept away Potomac on Wednesday in a three-game set. The last time they completed a sweep, it came at the expense of Frederick to close out the 2011 regular season. The Keys went on to win the Mills Cup championship while the Blue Crew missed the playoffs for a second straight year.

The Rocks seem to be handing left-handers a bit better of late. Before the homestand started, the Rocks were 2-8 vs. southpaw starters. Taking down Robbie Ray and Matt Grace over the last two days, that mark now stands at 4-8. They are 18-15 when a righty starts for the opponent.

With wins in seven of their last eight games, the Blue Rocks stand 3.5 games back of first-place Lynchburg (who plays at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday) in the Northern Division. The Potomac series marked the penultimate series against divisional competition for the Blue Crew. 22 of Wilmington's 25 remaining games this half will pit it against Southern Division squads. Entering Wednesday, the North has a composite record of 75-90 (.455) while the South stands at 90-75 (.545). Three of the four teams in the North have a losing record compared all .500 or better records in the South.

Rocks catcher Jose Bonilla was strong in his debut for Wilmington. After being received from extended spring training on Tuesday, he had three hits in his first three at bats on Wednesday and collected an RBI. The last time Bonilla had a three-hit game came against these same Nationals in Potomac on May 13 of last year.

For the 16th time this season, Jansen Visconti and Rich Gonzalez combined to umpire a game involving the Rocks, which accounts for 36% of Wilmington's games on the year.

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Carolina League Stories from May 23, 2012


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