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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks Split Twinbill at Lynchburg

June 14, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Lynchburg, VA - Starter Elisaul Pimentel (4-3) nearly hurled his first professional shutout in a 3-1 win before the Wilmington Blue Rocks (33-31) nearly pulled off an improbable comeback in a 7-3 nightcap loss. All told, the Blue Crew split a doubleheader with the Lynchburg Hillcats (29-36) at City Stadium on Tuesday night, getting one-hit in the finale.

The Blue Rocks never trailed in the opener. An Andrelton Simmons' throwing error allowed Nick Francis to cross as the team's first of two runs in the second inning. Alex McClure singled John Whittleman in for the second against starter Chris Masters (4-3). The lefty gave up an RBI single to Francis in the third that rounded out Wilmington's scoring.

During that time, Pimentel dominated. He had retired 13 of 14 before Adam Milligan drew a one-out walk in the seventh. Whittleman made an eye-opening leaping catch of a Joey Terdoslavich hard liner to third thereafter and Pimentel attacked. The right-hander got two strikes on Joe Leonard, placing him a pitch away from his third career complete game and his first shutout. Alas, Leonard doubled just fair inside of third, allowing Milligan to score from first for a 3-1 score.

Pimentel struck out Barrett Kleinknecht thereafter for his seventh whiff of the night, and settled for his first complete game since 2008. He walked one and allowed just four hits.

The Rocks grabbed a 1-0 lead in the nightcap with Deivy Batista's bases-loaded walk in the second inning. It would prove the only run they scratched out against prospect starter Dimasther Delgado over his four innings. He walked four and struck out five while allowing one hit.

Michael Mariot (5-1), making his second start of the season, allowed consecutive two-out extra-base hits in the bottom of the second. Leonard's double went off the glove of Yem Prades in center field and Gerry Rodriguez made it count with a home run to left-center field.

Things got much uglier in the fifth when the 'Cats batted around and scored five runs to chase Mariot. Four of the runs crossed after Mariot departed with the bases loaded. Reliever Bryan Paukovits allowed all three hand-me-down men to cross with consecutive two-run hits by Kleinknecht and Milligan highlighting the scoring. Mariot gave up five runs on five hits in 4.2 innings. He walked two and struck out three. Paukovits received two runs on his line along with two hits, a walk and a wild pitch over just one-third of an inning.

Princeton alumnus David Hale (1-1) hurled two scoreless and hitless bridge innings to maintain a 7-1 Lynchburg advantage. In the seventh, Jeremy Haynes struggled to throw strikes. He issued three walks while McClure reached on an error and the Blue Rocks made it a 7-2 game thanks to another bases-loaded walk drawn by Batista.

Lynchburg skipper Luis Salazar made a move to his bullpen, bringing on Gloucester, NJ native Ryan Buchter. Prades greeted him with a sacrifice fly to right and Carlo Testa worked a walk to load the bases. All-Star Rey Navarro came to the plate as the tying tally, but popped out to second. Francis then flied out to a sprinting Keenan Wiley in foul ground in right to end the game. The Blue Rocks entered the inning down 7-1, and got the tying run to the plate even though they finished with one hit in the 7-3 loss.

Wilmington concludes its final road trip of the first half at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. The Rocks' leader in wins, Tim Melville (6-6, 4.67), gets the ball against southpaw Matt Crim (1-5, 5.26). The Blue Rocks need a victory to secure a winning journey. Broadcast coverage begins at 6:35 p.m. as studio host Adam Dobrowolski 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:

Elisaul Pimentel joined Justin Marks as the only Blue Rocks to throw a complete game this season. Marks has turned the trick twice.

Pimentel's last complete games came while he pitched in the Rookie Gulf Coast League as a Dodgers' farmhand in 2008.

Earlier in the day, infielder John Whittleman was added to the Carolina League All-Star team as a starter. He made multiple impressive defensive plays in the opening win. His diving stop of a hard grounder resulted in a 5-3 putout of Joe Leonard in the fifth with a man at second. His leaping snare of a liner by Joey Terdoslavich in the seventh came with Adam Milligan at first. Both maintained a shutout advantage for Pimentel.

Rey Navarro played third base for the first time as a professional in the nightcap. He played the position multiple times during the Puerto Rican Winter League this off-season, but had not played it over 440 professional games entering the 7-3 loss.

Deivy Batista drove in two runs with bases-loaded walks and laid down a sacrifice bunt in the nightcap to finish 0-for-0.

Tim Ferguson reached base four times between the two games. He walked three times and lined a single to center field.

Yem Prades led off in both games as Whit Merrifield rested. Merrifield took a throw off of his tailbone in the eighth inning of Monday's opener.

The Blue Rocks fell to 3-6 against the Hillcats. In their meetings, the Blue Rocks have been outhit .298 to .229. Lynchburg's 2.92 ERA dwarfs the Blue Rocks' 5.20 mark.

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