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SAL1 Delmarva Shorebirds

Shorebirds Collapse Late in Lexington

May 5, 2016 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Delmarva Shorebirds News Release


SALISBURY, MD - Delmarva's defense has been the backbone of their recent success over the last two weeks, but it was their undoing in Lexington on Thursday night. The Shorebirds committed two critical late errors and blew a 4-3 eighth inning lead in a 7-5 loss against the Lexington Legends at Whitaker Bank Ballpark.

Delmarva (15-11) only got base hits in three innings against the Legends pitching staff, who were also frustrated by bad defense. Foster Griffin allowed four unearned runs in a no-decision.

Lexington (11-16) jumped out front early with a run on a sacrifice fly in the first inning from Chase Vallot.

The Shorebirds plated two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. Cedric Mullins reached on an error in the fourth, went to second on a wild pitch, and moved up 90 feet on back to back ground balls from Ricardo Andujar and D.J. Stewart. Stewart earned his 11th RBI of the season in an 0-for-3 effort that included a walk.

With two outs in the fifth inning, Drew Turbin appeared to go too far on a check swing with a 2-2 count. But Justin Anderson ruled he held up and Turbin deposited the next pitch into right field for a base hit. After Turbin moved to second on a wild pitch, Mullins struck out on a wild pitch - but Vallot threw the ball down the right field line and Turbin scored to give Delmarva a 3-1 edge. Mullins raced safely down to second base. One pitch later, Andujar blooped a single into right field to score Mullins and give the Shorebirds their largest lead of the game at 4-1.

Reid Love was in a terrific rhythm on the mound and sent down 12 out of 13 he had seen between the first and fifth innings. But he made a mistake to Travis Maezes, who launched his second homer (a two run shot) in as many nights deep over the right-center field wall to pull the Legends within one. Love finished the game with a no decision, hurling six innings and allowing three runs on four hits.

Delmarva took their 4-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning with Bobby Strader on the mound. Strader got Jecksson Flores to fly out to right field for the first out, but that was the only routine play of the inning. Cody Jones reached on an infield single to second base and he stole second during D.J. Burt's at bat. Burt grounded out for the second out of the inning. Then Samir Duenez hit a hard grounder to shortstop where Ryan Mountcastle made a diving stop. But as Mountcastle tried to hurry a throw to first base, he skipped it past Steve Laurino, which allowed Cody Jones to score the tying run.

The Legends weren't done. Duenez stole second base and Vallot drew a walk. The stage was set for Amalani Fukofuka, who hit his second double of the series to right field to drive home Duenez and give Lexington the lead at 5-4. Ben Johnson then got into the action with a soft bouncer deep in the hole at third base, which Andujar fielded cleanly, but threw wildly across the diamond. Steve Laurino couldn't handle the low hop and both Vallot and Fukofuka scored. Lexington led 7-4 with four runs on four hits and two errors in the eighth inning.

The Shorebirds tried to mount a two out rally in the ninth. Laurino doubled into the left field corner to score Ryan Mountcastle with two outs and brought Delmarva within two. Drew Turbin walked to put the tying run on base, but Mullins struck out the end the contest.

Bobby Strader (0-2) took the loss for the 'Birds. He allowed four runs on four hits in two innings and also took his second blown save of the season.

The Shorebirds struck out 12 times offensively and managed to hit just 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Six different players had a base hit, including Andujar who extended his season-long hitting streak to seven games. Ryan Mountcastle has also hit safely in five consecutive games. Yermin Mercedes collected one hit and one RBI, but has now only recorded four hits in his last 24 at bats since winning the South Atlantic League Player of the Week last week.

The loss forces a rubber match tomorrow night. Delmarva will send Ofelky Peralta to the hill after he struck out a career-high 10 batters in his last outing. First pitch is slated for 7:05. Brendan Gulick will have the play-by-play live on Fox Sports AM 960 and online at www.theshorebirds.com.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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