EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Squirrels Scrap Past Curve, 5-3

Published on May 6, 2011 under Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


RICHMOND, VA - The Richmond Flying Squirrels (13-15) earned a hard-fought, 5-3, victory over the Altoona Curve (13-13) in the opener of a three-game series in front of 3,938 at The Diamond on Friday night. The win allowed Richmond to improve to 10-5 at home on the season.

Justin Christian got the Squirrels started in the first inning, leading off against left-hander Jeff Locke with a flare-single to right field. Two batters later, Locke walked Juan Perez to move Christian to second. With the runners moving, Jose Flores delivered a single up the middle to score Christian for a 1-0 Richmond lead.

The Curve knotted the game with one swing from Starling Marte in the fourth inning. Marte drilled a 1-0 fastball from Squirrels' right-hander David Mixon over the wall in left field. The solo-home run was Marte's second of the season, and tied the game, 1-1.

Altoona forged ahead in the fifth when Jeremy Farrell led off the inning with a double. He advanced to third on a passed ball charged to Richmond catcher Johnny Monell. A broken-bat single to center field from Tony Sanchez followed, bringing home Farrell to put the Curve in front, 2-1. The run wound up unearned against Mixon due to the passed ball.

Mixon and Locke each departed after five innings. Mixon surrendered two runs - one earned - on three hits. He walked none and struck out one. Locke allowed just the lone run in the first inning. He conceded four hits and walked four more, but left in line for the win. However, neither starter factored in the decision.

The Squirrels grabbed the lead back against right-hander Tom Boleska in the sixth. Boleska issued back-to-back walks to Flores and Joe Koshansky to start the inning. Attempting the bunt the runners over, Mike McBryde singled to load the bases. Boleska recovered to strike out Monell, but pinch-hitter Roger Kieschnick legged out the back-end of a fielder's choice as the Squirrels tied the game, 2-2. Christian delivered a single and the lead when he went back through the middle to plate Koshansky.

Right-hander Ronnie Ray (2-1) earned the victory for the Squirrels, working a scoreless sixth inning. Boleska (1-1) was saddled with the loss for Altoona. Right-hander Osiris Matos kept the Curve at bay for two innings, retiring all six batters he faced through the seventh and eighth innings.

Koshansky and McBryde went back-to-back with solo-home runs off of right-hander Matt McSwain in the eighth to pad the Richmond advantage. Each left the park to left field, marking the first time the Squirrels had hit back-to-back home runs since June 28th, 2010.

The Curve capped the scoring as they scratched across a run against closer Jason Stoffel in the ninth. Stoffel righted himself to earn his fourth save of the season, stranding the tying runs on the bases.

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Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for 6:35 PM on Saturday night at The Diamond. LHP Eric Surkamp (1-2, 2.05) will make the start for the Squirrels against LHP Aaron Thompson (2-2, 3.49) for the Curve.

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Eastern League Stories from May 6, 2011


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