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Richmond Flying Squirrels

Squirrels Outlast Rock Cats for Win in Opener, 4-3

April 19, 2010 - Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


RICHMOND, VA - The Richmond Flying Squirrels claimed a see-saw affair, 4-3, over the New Britain Rock Cats in the first-ever meeting between the two clubs in front of 3,087 at The Diamond on Monday night.

The Flying Squirrels continued their trend of striking first, doing so for the fifth consecutive ballgame by plating two runs against New Britain starter Carlos Gutierrez in the third inning. Clay Timpner started the inning with a single and Gutierrez misplayed a sacrifice-bunt from Darren Ford, with both runners safe at first and second. Brandon Crawford walked to load the bases with nobody out, and Thomas Neal put Richmond in front with a ground-out to second base. Conor Gillaspie followed with a sacrifice-fly to right field to bring Ford in and give the Flying Squirrels a 2-0 lead.

The Rock Cats trimmed the lead to one as they got on the board for the first time against Flying Squirrels' starter Clayton Tanner in the fourth. A two-out walk issued by Tanner to Chris Parmalee came back to haunt him three batters later when Parmalee scored on an infield-single from Whit Robbins. Tanner appeared to have tagged Robbins on his way by as the slow-roller was fielded just inside the first base line, but Tanner was ruled to have missed the tag and the run cut the Richmond lead to 2-1.

Richmond added the run back to their lead in the fifth when a Crawford sacrifice-fly plated Timpner who had singled to start the inning. New Britain responded just as quickly when Tanner hit Parmalee to start the sixth and he came around two batters later on an RBI single from Robbins to bring the Rock Cats back within one, 3-2.

The Cats pulled even when Rene Tosani belted a solo-home run off of reliever Tony Pena Jr. in the seventh inning. Pena (1-0) did earn the win however, allowing the lone run over 1 1/3 innings.

Jake Stevens worked a scoreless eighth inning, and Richmond came up with the game-winning rally in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Jackson Williams tripled off of reliever Santos Arias to set the stage. Arias rebounded to strike out Timpner, but Ford cranked a triple over the head of Joe Benson in center field to bring home Williams with the game-winning run.

Arias (0-1) was saddled with the loss for New Britain. Stevens recorded the first out in the ninth inning, before handing it off to Richmond closer Rafael Cova, He finished the ballgame with the help of a tremendous basket-catch from Nick Noonan on the final out.

Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for 7:05 PM on Tuesday night at The Diamond. RHP Daryl Maday (1-0, 1.69) will make the start for Richmond against LHP Tyler Robertson (0-0, 5.40) for New Britain.

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Eastern League Stories from April 19, 2010


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