SAL1 Delmarva Shorebirds

Three Home Run Day Launches Shorebirds to Sweep

Published on August 28, 2016 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Delmarva Shorebirds News Release


The Shorebirds offense was sparked again, with home runs by Randolph Gassaway, Ryan Mountcastle, and Ademar Rifaela, and the Shorebirds completed the three game sweep of the Lexington Legends Sunday evening 7-5, at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.

The trend for the series has been the Shorebirds scoring early and often, and that happened again Sunday. Cedric Mullins led off the game with a double to center field. Ricardo Andujar walked, and Ryan Mountcastle lined a double to left field to score Mullins. Randolph Gassaway added a sacrifcie fly, making it an early 2-0 lead.

Lexington attempted to respond in the top of second. After a Xavier Fernandez single and a Brandon Dulin walk, Marten Gasparini singled to load the bases with only one out. Ben Johnson grounded into a force out, in which Ricardo Andujar had a heads up play to throw to home for the second out. Tanner Stanley then hit a hard hit ball to left center, but Ademar Rifaela made a great play to end the inning, keeping the Legends off the board.

Randolph Gassaway added to the Shorebirds lead in the bottom of the third by blasting his sixth home run of the season, a 358 ft shot to left field.

The Legends responded with their first run in the fourth. A single by Marten Gasparini allowed Xavier Fernandez, who singled earlier, to score from third.

Ryan Mountcastle & Ademar Rifaela joined the home run party in the fifth. Mountcastle launched a 402 ft shot to left, his 10th of the season. Rifaela added a two run shot a few batters later, with his second in as many games, and 11th of the season, that just landed over the fence inside the right field foul pole.

Delmarva added a run in the sixth after a Marten Gasaparini throwing error that allowed Drew Turbin to cross the plate. Lexington posted their second run in the top of the seventh after a Steve Klimek wild pitch, allowing Roman Collins to score.

Lexington did however make it interesting in the ninth. Ben Johnson struck out swinging and Tanner Stanley grounded out, but back to back singles by Roman Collins and DJ Burt brought Chase Vallot to bat. Vallot mashed his 11th home run of the season to left center, cutting the lead to 7-5.

Francisco Jimenez (8-9), went six solid innings and was very effective. Jimenez struck out three with one earned run. Steve Klimek and Mike Burke came on in relief. Nolan Watson (3-11), took the loss for the Legends, who have now dropped four of five.

The Shorebirds have a league wide off day on Monday, as they travel to Greensboro, NC to face the Greeensboro Grasshoppers for their final road trip of the season starting on Tuesday, August 30th at 7:00pm. Brendan Gulick will have the call live on Fox Sports AM 960.

Delmarva Shorebirds ---------------------------- The Delmarva Shorebirds are the Class "A" Affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The Shorebirds are owned by 7th Inning Stretch, LLC, the same company that owns the Stockton Ports of the California League and the Everett AquaSox of the Northwest League.

The Shorebirds celebrated their 20th season in 2015, and have entertained nearly five million fans since beginning play at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury, Md. in 1996. The team has captured South Atlantic League titles in 1997 and 2000 while successfully hosting the South Atlantic League All-Star Game in 1999 and 2011.

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South Atlantic League Stories from August 28, 2016


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