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SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

West Virginia Power: Game Notes (August 13)

August 13, 2018 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


West Virginia concludes its four-game series against the Rome Braves this evening at State Mutual Stadium, with first pitch set for 7 p.m. LHP Ike Schlabach (6-3, 3.99 ERA) toes the slab.

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OFFENSE BACKS CUBILETE IN SUNDAY WIN: West Virginia's offense tallied 10 runs for the first time since June 30 to back a stellar five-inning outing from Sergio Cubilete, guiding the Power to a 10-4 win over the Rome Braves Sunday afternoon at State Mutual Stadium. West Virginia climbed ahead in the second inning as Robbie Glendinning drove in a run with a ground out before Rafelin Lorenzo lofted a sacrifice fly to create an early 2-0 lead for the Power. In the fourth, West Virginia doubled its lead as Deon Stafford laced a triple and scored later in the frame on a wild pitch before Lorenzo doubled in Glendinning to make it 4-1. The Power put the game out of reach with a four-run fifth inning, with Fabricio Macias and Rodolfo Castro each stroking RBI doubles and two more scoring on a fielding error by Rome's left fielder, Jefrey Ramos, when he dropped a sacrifice fly from Stafford. Cubilete worked five solid innings, allowing just one run on four hits with five strikeouts before ceding way to Joel Cesar in the sixth. Brendan Venter got to Cesar in his inaugural frame, smashing a three-run homer to close the Power's lead to 8-4. Castro added a run of insurance for West Virginia in the seventh with a run-scoring knock before Macias tacked on the final tally with his eighth-inning sacrifice fly. Elvis Escobar tossed the final two innings and did not allow a hit.

STARTING STRONG: The Power has seen three very solid starts for their starting pitchers in the first three games of their series against the Rome Braves. Over the first three contests, West Virginia's starters have tossed 18 innings and given up five earned runs on 16 hits with 12 strikeouts, good for a 2.50 ERA. Here's a look at their recent performances:

Friday, August 10 at Rome: Oddy Nunez: 6 IP, 6H, 2R, 4K, 0BB (1st start with West Virginia in 2018)

Saturday, August 11 at Rome: Hunter Stratton: 7 IP, 6H, 2R, 3K, 3BB (Longest start of his career)

Sunday, August 12 at Rome: Cubilete: 5 IP, 4H, 1R, 5K, 1BB (Tossed five innings or more in four of last five starts)

SURGING STAFFORD: Stafford is having quite the series against the Rome Braves after going 1-for-3 with an RBI, a triple and three runs scored Sunday afternoon. Stafford's three-bagger was his fifth of the season, second-most on the team to Oneil Cruz (7), while he scored three runs for just the second time in his professional career (April 14 at Hickory). Over the first three games of this series, the Philadelphia native is averaging .308 (4-for-13) with a grand slam, the first of his career, and seven RBI, including his career-best six-RBI effort Saturday, where he became the first Power batter to record six RBI in a single game since former West Virginia infielder Chase Simpson accomplished the feat August 5, 2015, against Greenville. Since coming off the DL August 4, the backstop is averaging .344 (10-for-29) with three home runs and 11 RBI. This surge comes after posting a .159 July clip, his worst month of the season.

HAMMERIN' HERNANDEZ: Raul Hernandez has mashed since coming off the shelf in early July, boasting a .390 (30-for-77) clip with a home run and 15 RBI in 22 second-half contests. In the month of August, Hernandez is riding a ridiculous .533 (16-for-30) stroke with three doubles, four RBI and four runs scored over nine games. His .533 average in the month leads all South Atlantic League sluggers. He has also been a force as the designated hitter for the Power this season. In seven starts as the DH, the backstop is averaging .609 (14-for-23) with two doubles and four RBI.

EXCELLENT ESCOBAR: Escobar has made a very nice conversion from the outfield to the bullpen with West Virginia in 2018. He has not allowed a run in seven of his 11 appearances with the Power and boasts a 2.70 ERA (6 ER/20 IP) overall. Over his last five outings, the Venezuelan native has ceded just two runs on five hits over 11 innings of work with 12 strikeouts compared to four walks, good for a 1.64 ERA.

PLAYOFF PUSH?: With West Virginia's win over Rome Sunday and Lexington's doubleheader sweep of the Kannapolis Intimidators, the Power moved to 1.5 games back of Kannapolis for the South Atlantic League's Northern Division Wild Card spot. If Lakewood takes home the second-half Northern Division title, which they currently lead by 4.5 games over the Hickory Crawdads, the second Northern Division playoff spot would go to the next best overall record in the division, which is currently Kannapolis at 62-53. West Virginia has 20 games remaining in the 2018 season, with four of its final five series coming against teams with sub-.500 records in 2018. Of those five series, only one comes against a Northern Division foe, when West Virginia welcomes the Hagerstown Suns to town from August 27-30.

POWER POINTS: Glendinning swiped his first stolen base at the Low-A level yesterday... The Power was 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position Sunday, stranding five men on base... West Virginia committed its 142nd and 143rd errors Sunday, the fourth-most errors in the SAL. The Power is also tied for the second-worst fielding percentage (.965).

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