CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Ugly 7-6 Loss Concludes Difficult Road Trip

Published on June 2, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Kinston, NC - The Blue Rocks' worst road trip of the season fittingly came to a close with an ugly narrow loss as Wilmington (29-23) fell to the Kinston Indians (27-25), 7-6. The Blue Rocks rallied from a pair of three-run deficits to forge a tie in the seventh inning, but made four errors, allowed 15 hits and saw one of their top hitters, John Whittleman, ejected. The Blue Crew went 1-6 on the road trip, losing three of the games by just one run. With Frederick's 6-5 defeat of Myrtle Beach, Wilmington slipped to 1.5 games back of the first-place Keys in the Carolina League's Northern Division.

Kinston put multiple men on base in every inning but the seventh, and spoiled the first start of the season for usual piggyback reliever Michael Mariot. The former University of Nebraska star allowed three runs in the very first inning, including a two-out two-run homer by Adam Abraham. Jose Bonilla got the Blue Rocks on the board with an RBI single in the second, but Abraham responded with a run-scoring double the next inning.

Mariot got the hook after 3.2 innings. He allowed five runs on nine hits and two walks. He struck out one, tossed a wild pitch and allowed a homer. His successor, Bryan Paukovits, kept the team in the game with 2.1 innings of scoreless ball.

He bridged the way to the seventh with the score 5-3 when Carlo Testa got aboard on a two-out walk. Rey Navarro followed with his second two-run homer in as many days, pulling a shot to right off reliever Tyler Sturdevant to tie the game, 5-5.

Ryan Dennick (1-2) entered thereafter and hurled a perfect bottom of the seventh with a couple of strikeouts. But the lefty struggled in facing seven batters and allowing two runs in the eighth. With the infield in and men at second and third, Bo Greenwell collected his second RBI of the night with a hard groundout to shortstop that Alex McClure could not field cleanly for a go-ahead score. Jeremie Tice followed with an RBI single to right field for an insurance run that made it 7-5.

Against a Kinston club that stood 20-0 when leading after eight innings and their closer, arguably the league's best in Preston Guilmet, the Blue Rocks made it interesting in the ninth. Juan Graterol's first home run on his six-year professional career took Guilmet's first pitch over the fence in center field to make it a one-run game. Alas, the magic ran out thereafter as Guilmet retired the next three in a row for his league-leading 13th save in as many tries. Kyle Landis (1-0), who struck out two in a perfect eighth, got the win.

The Blue Rocks return home for a seven-game homestand. It begins with the first of three against the Potomac Nationals on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. Southpaw Noel Arguelles (2-2, 2.84) gets the ball for the Blue Crew against right-hander Cameron Selik (0-4, 6.43). Broadcast coverage begins at 6:35 p.m. as studio host Adam Dobrowolski brings fans the Rocks Report Pre-game Show, presented by Wawa, on 89.7 WGLS-FM and online at wgls.rowan.edu.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

While the finale made for the team's most successful offensive performance of the road trip, the Blue Rocks still struggled on the journey. Over the seven-game run, Wilmington scored 14 runs while hitting .157 (35-for-223) with just 11 extra-base hits. That span includes a 7-for-43 (.163) mark with runners in scoring position.

All four of Rey Navarro's home runs this year and eight of his nine all-time as a Blue Rock have come on the road.

Juan Graterol's first professional home run in his six-year career came in his 201st game and his 640th at-bat.

The Blue Rocks have hit just 28 home runs this year, the second-lowest total in the league. Despite batting 32 points lower on the road (.255-.223), the team has hit 21 (75%) of its homers away from Frawley Stadium.

Coincidentally enough, by improving to 21-0 when leading after eight innings, the K-Tribe tied the Blue Rocks for the best record in such circumstances in the league.

Bryan Paukovits kept his opponents off the scoreboard for a third straight outing, a span of nine innings. In that time, he has struck out six men and walked just one while holding the league to a .172 batting average. He has lowered his season-long ERA from 4.41 to 2.84. He has significant home-road splits this season with a 5.40 ERA at Frawley Stadium and a 0.66 mark on the road with an even amount of appearances in both environments.

The Blue Rocks' four errors tied their season-high mark. They last made four miscues in a game at Lynchburg on April 26.

The game could have been uglier. Kinston stranded 11 men on base and went just 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position.

Adam Abraham owns Wilmington pitching. After a 3-for-5 night with three RBIs that fell a triple short of the cycle, he has hit .351 (13-for-37) with 10 extra-base hits, four homers, 10 RBIs, just six strikeouts and seven runs scored in 10 games with an OPS of 1.222.

Eight of the nine men in Kinston's lineup recorded at least one base hit.

John Whittleman got ejected while running out a groundout to the pitcher that concluded the top of the seventh inning. He was restrained by manager Brian Rupp after he was tossed by home plate umpire Matt Jones. It marks the second time during the road trip a Blue Rocks player got the heave-ho. Friday night's scheduled starter, Noel Arguelles, was sent to the showers for throwing behind Vinny DiFazio after allowing a home run at Myrtle Beach on Saturday.

Michael Mariot's season-long ERA more than doubled from 1.17 to 2.36. He had allowed just four runs over his prior nine outings and 30.2 innings before giving up a career-worst five earned runs in 3.2 frames on Thursday night.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from June 2, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central