SwampDogs Walk off on Blowfish, 5-4
July 24, 2014 - Coastal Plain League (Coastal Plain)
Fayetteville SwampDogs News Release
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - In a season filled with excitement, it was very fitting that the SwampDogs would win in walkoff fashion over the Columbia Blowfish, 5-4 on Thursday night.
The game started off as a terrific pitcher's duel with Clayton Freimuth (Trinity) and Colie Bowers locking horns in the early going. The Blowfish got on the board first with a run in the second off of Freimuth after three consecutive hits, but that was all Freimuth would allow. He would go 5.0 innings, allowing just the one run on four hits, striking out a season-high seven, and walking three.
Bowers would be spotless for the Blowfish until the sixth inning, when he would hit Norm Donkin (Delaware) and walk Sam Hall (Dixie State) to start the frame. Having thrown 96 pitches, he was removed from the game by manager Jonathan Johnson in favor of Evan Raynor. When Kam Stewart (Frostburg State) laid down a sacrifice bunt on the first pitch, Raynor threw the ball away up the right field line, allowing Donkin to score. Two batters later, Brandon Metoyer (Menlo) would single to centerfield scoring Hall and Stewart, and the SwampDogs took a 3-1 lead.
Nick Hartman (LSU Eunice) was in the game in relief of Freimuth, and found himself pitching with a lead. He would surrender a run in the eighth to make it 3-2 Dogs, but he got roughed up a little bit in the ninth, allowing two runs to score, giving the Blowfish a 4-2 lead.
Hartman hit Trevor Bradley to lead off the inning, then allowed a hit to Allen Staton. Chase Shelton drove a ball to the left centerfield gap, which was chased down by David LaFleur (LSU Eunice) on a great running catch. Robbie Streett reached when he hit a groundball to third base which was booted by Metoyer, then Julian Santos delivered the two-run single. Hunter Barnett (Mount Olive) would come in and retire the final two batters of the inning to keep the score where it was.
In the bottom of the ninth inning Raynor was still on the mound for the Blowfish, and he started the inning by allowing a hit to Jason Blum (Southeast Missouri State) who would then steal second base, his third steal of the game. Michael Bozarth then beat out a bunt single, but on the play Staton threw the ball away, allowing Blum to score and Bozarth to reach third. Raynor would intentionally walk Lane Paul (Murray State College) and Donkin to load the bases with nobody out for Hall. Hall would line a 1-1 pitch past the drawn-in infield and in to center to bring home Bozarth and win the game for the SwampDogs.
Barnett (2-0) got the win for the SwampDogs, and Raynor (0-4) got hung with the loss for Columbia. The SwampDogs hit the road Friday to play their sole matchup with the Forest City Owls, as SwampDogs manager David Tufo returns to the grounds where he managed in 2013.
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Coastal Plain League Stories from July 24, 2014
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