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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Sloppy Defense Allows the Potomac Nationals to Pull Away for 5-2 Victory Over Blue Rocks

April 8, 2016 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (0-2) battled the Potomac Nationals (2-0) to a stalemate for most of the game on Friday night at Frawley Stadium, but two errors on the same play proved to be the turning point in a 5-2 loss. After not committing an error through the first 16 innings of baseball, Josh Staumont's throw up the first baseline allowed two runs to score for the Nationals, turning a 2-2 tie into a 4-2 deficit, a deficit from which the Blue Crew would never recover.

Both teams punched across a run in the second inning as it was David Masters opening up the scoring in the top of the second inning for the P-Nats. The Nationals were able to put men on the corners with two outs against Blue Rocks' starter Pedro Fernandez. That was the situation for Masters who worked the count to 2-2 and he turned on a fastball rapping it by the dive of second basement Corey Toups for a 1-0 Nationals lead.

The Blue Crew bounced back in the bottom of the frame, once again plating a run with an infield single for the second night in a row. Alfredo Escalera walked to begin the inning and went from first to third on a single to right by Chad Johnson with two men down. Austin Bailey, who made his Blue Rocks debut in the game, hit a hard grounder to first which popped in and out of the glove of Jose Marmelojos, allowing Escalera to score from third with the tying run.

The teams traded zeroes through the middle innings until the top of the sixth when Josh Staumont walked in a run, giving the P-Nats their second lead of the game. The Blue Rocks took advantage of an error by shortstop Osvaldo Abreu in the bottom of the sixth inning, which allowed them to pull even at 2-2. Elier Hernandez came to the plate with men at first and second and grounded an 0-2 pitch right to Abreu, but the shortstop watched the ball go under his glove and between his legs as Toups came around to score his first run as a Blue Rock, knotting the game at 2-2.

It was in the top of the eighth inning when Staumont's errant throw opened up the door for the Nationals to take a lead they would not relinquish. After walking the leadoff batter, Staumont faced Bryan Mejia who laid down a sacrifice bunt. The bunt hopped right back to Staumont who elected to go to first, but his throw was well into foul territory. Drew Ward, who was on first base, motored all the way from first to third and ran through the stop sign thrown up by Tripp Keister the manager and third base coach for the Nationals.

Hernandez fielded the ball down the right field line and fired it towards home, but his throw was up the third baseline and scooted under his legs allowing Ward to score. Staumont was backing up the play, but the ricochet off of the catcher Johnson got away from him, which enabled Mejia to come all the way around to score after laying down the sacrifice bunt. The Nationals added another run in the ninth on an RBI triple by Mejia for the final 5-2 score.

Robert Orlan picked up the win in relief for the P-Nats, giving up just one unearned run in two innings of work, striking out four and walking a pair. Josh Staumont took the loss after allowing the two unearned runs although he did strike out seven in 2.2 innings pitched. Tomorrow's game will be the third of the four game series between the Blue Rocks and Nationals and is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and fans can listen to the broadcast on 89.7 WGLS-FM or BlueRocks.com. For tickets, please call 302-888-BLUE or visit BlueRocks.com.

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