CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Unlikely Hero Clinches Victorious Road Finale

Published on August 28, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Salem, VA - Andrew Stueve arrived at Roanoke Regional Airport 15 minutes before the scheduled first pitch. He also delivered the last pitch of the day. Called up from the Rookie Arizona League, Stueve (1-0) fired two perfect innings as the Wilmington Blue Rocks (62-69, 26-36) survived a back-and-forth road finale against the Salem Red Sox (59-74, 28-36) on Sunday afternoon, 5-4. In a game littered with injuries, errors, wild pitches, hit batters and lead changes, the Blue Crew locked up its first road series win in 11 tries since June 10-12. However, due to Potomac's victory at Frederick in game one of a doubleheader earlier in the day, the team took the field eliminated from postseason contention.

Tied 4-4 in the ninth, the Blue Rocks scored the game-winning run without a hit. Whit Merrifield worked a one-out walk from Jeremiah Bayer (7-3), who handed home plate to the Rocks' leadoff hitter. An errant pickoff move gave the speedster second. Consecutive wild pitches then allowed him to then take third and ultimately race home for Wilmington's third lead of the game.

Stueve whiffed three men in his two innings of work. That included two strikeouts in the ninth against the two, three and four-hole hitters. However, after striking out Heiker Meneses at the start of the frame, Stueve did not have to face first-round pick Kolbrin Vitek or the homer happy Bryce Brentz. Both men were pulled from the field earlier in the game due to apparent injury.

Brentz suffered his game-exiting harm when he crashed into the right-field fence leaping at a batted ball from Carlo Testa in the seventh inning. The result was a two-run inside-the-park home run and a 4-2 Wilmington lead. Brentz sat on the warning track for over five minutes before coming to his feet briefly and leaving the field on a tractor.

Salem tied the game the next half-inning thanks to two Wilmington errors. The game-tying tally crossed on a hard comeback single by Miles Head off reliever Ryan Dennick's glove.

The teams traded scores in each of the first three innings. Salem got a run without a hit in the first against Tyler Sample. Delaware native Derrik Gibson was hit by a pitch, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Vitek's groundout to short. The Rocks' responded with a two-spot in the second. Tim Ferguson reached on a bunt when pitcher Anthony Ranaudo bobbled his fielding attempt. The outfielder stole second and scored on a two-out double just inside of the first-base line by Deivy Batista. Merrifield knocked Batista in with a triple off the fence in left over a leaping Shannon Wilkerson's outstretched glove.

Salem tied the game in the third. Gibson reached on a two-out throwing error by third baseman John Whittleman and took third on Meneses' single to right. With Vitek at the plate, a wild pitch opened the door for Gibson to dart home and deadlock the game, 2-2. That pitch brought the count to 1-1, and ended the day for Vitek who left the game walking gingerly. After the game, Vitek informed the media he strained his oblique during his first plate appearance. Brentz told the press he felt a sharp pain in his back when he hit the wall, but outside of tightness appeared to be okay after the game.

With their final road trip of the season in the books, the Blue Rocks return home for a seven-game homestand at Frawley Stadium. It starts with the first of a four-game set against the myrtle Beach Pelicans on Monday night at 6:35 p.m. Wilmington will toss southpaw Allen Caldwell (1-0, 2.20) in a second straight spot start against right-hander Kennil Gomez (2-5, 3.91). Broadcast coverage begins at 6:05 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:

Carlo Testa started in center field for the first time as a Blue Rock. He last played the position on July 9, 2010 while at the Low-A level.

His inside-the-park home run is the first for a Blue Crewer since Jeff Bianchi hit one on June 4, 2008 against Kinston's Mike Pontius.

Testa has homered in back-to-back games for the first time all season. Of his six dingers this year, four have been hit this month.

Andrew Stueve and fellow right-handed reliever Cole White both joined the team on Sunday. White came from Low-A Kane County. They were needed due to the dual promotions earlier in the day of right-handers Elisaul Pimentel and Kendal Volz to Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

Sunday's win lifted the team to 4-9 in rubber matches.

On Thursday night, the Blue Rocks defeated Potomac 11-5 despite getting outscored 5-3 in earned runs. On Friday, the team dropped a 7-4 game to Salem even though it owned a 3-2 advantage in earned runs. Saturday's meeting saw the team lose 10-9 despite outscoring the Red Sox 7-6 in earned runs. In Sunday's road trip finale, four of the game's nine runs went unearned with Salem holding a 3-2 advantage based on earned tallies.

Tyler Sample finished the day with a unique line. In five innings plus two batters, he allowed two runs (one earned) on just three hits. But he walked four, struck out four, hit four batters and tossed two wild pitches. Three of his bruises went off the body of Salem first baseman Miles Head.

In finishing the year 14-6 against Salem, the Blue Rocks tied for their best showing against the franchise ever. The team had amassed the same mark against Salem three times before, but the most recent prior occasion was in 1998. The 2011 unit's 7-3 record at Salem Memorial Stadium makes for the most road wins in the series by the Blue Rocks since that same 1998 club.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from August 28, 2011


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