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Charleston Dirty Birds

West Virginia Power: Game Notes (June 15)

June 15, 2018 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


The Power begins their final series of the first half tonight against the Delmarva Shorebirds, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. at Appalachian Power Park. RHP Max Kranick (0-3, 5.75 ERA) is on the mound and below.

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CASTRO'S BLAST HELPS POWER SWEEP AUGUSTA: Rodolfo Castro's fourth-inning homer capped a four-run frame that guided West Virginia to a 6-3 win in the series finale Thursday evening against the Augusta GreenJackets at SRP Park, completing the Power's first four-game sweep of the season. Ryan Peurifoy started the fourth-inning scoring with an RBI single to left that plated Brett Pope to put West Virginia in front 2-1. Two batters later, Castro mashed his home run to left-center to extend the Power's lead to 5-1. Each team scored a run in the first, with John Bormann collecting his fourth RBI with West Virginia thanks to a first-inning bloop single to center. Augusta tied it in the bottom of the frame on a wild pitch from Hunter Stratton. Stratton did not give up a hit until the fourth, when Jeffry Para stroked his second home run of the season to bring the GreenJackets within three. Overall, the Power right-hander spun five innings, allowing two runs and six walks, which tied his career-high, while striking out six batters. After Augusta notched a run in the seventh on a Heliot Ramos double off Drew Fischer to make it a two-run game, West Virginia responded in the ninth. Peurifoy led off the inning with his first career triple before Oneil Cruz beat out an infield single that forced a throwing error from Manuel Geraldo and sent Peurifoy in from third. Beau Sulser closed out his second save of the series with two perfect innings, striking out three.

BREAK OUT THE BROOMS: With Thursday's 6-3 win, the Power secured their second series sweep of the season with a four-game brooming of the Augusta GreenJackets at SRP Park, who have now lost 10 games in a row. West Virginia's first sweep of the season was from May 9-11 in Hagerstown, where the Power took all three games in the midst of a six-game winning streak, the team's longest of the season. West Virginia had not swept a team in a four-game series since August 3-6, 2017, when they broomed the Delmarva Shorebirds at Appalachian Power Park.

HOLY HOMERS: Castro's home run was the Power's 50th of the season, fifth-most in the South Atlantic League (Augusta, 54; Hickory, 55; Lexington, 67; Asheville 68). The second baseman's long ball snapped a streak of eight consecutive games where the Power did not homer. Every active West Virginia batter has at least one home run this year except for Bormann and Jesse Medrano, who have played in a total of 10 games with the Power in 2018.

STREAKING: Ben Bengtson extended his hitting streak to 15 games with his first-inning single Thursday against Augusta starter Jose Marte. Bengtson's streak is now the longest hitting streak by a Power slugger in 2018. The infielder is averaging .296 (16-for-54) with eight RBI in that span. The Concord, New Hampshire, native is one of three West Virginia sluggers to string together a hitting streak of 10 games or more in 2018 (Cruz, 10 and 14; Calvin Mitchell, 13). Bengtson is the first Power batter to put together a hitting streak of 15 games or more since Jacoby Jones strung together a 17-game streak from June 20-July 17, 2014. The Hartford product has the second-longest active streak in the SAL (Drew Waters, 18 games with Rome since May 27). Bengtson has increased his season average from .169 to .227 (58 points) in this span.

SAVE ME: Sulser secured the fifth save of the road trip for West Virginia with his two spotless innings Thursday. The Power recorded a save in all four games of their series against Augusta, with Samuel Reyes notching his first save with West Virginia on Wednesday and Matt Seelinger registering the save Tuesday. Sulser also got the save in the series opener Monday. The Power's 17 saves are sixth-most in the South Atlantic League, with Seelinger leading the team (4).

ON THE BRINK: West Virginia's 6-3 win, coupled with a doubleheader sweep of Kannapolis by Delmarva, kept the Power's elimination number in the first half at one. One win for Kannapolis or one loss by West Virginia would eliminate the Power from postseason contention in the first half.

HEY NOW, YOU'RE AN ALL-STAR: Stafford and Mitchell were named South Atlantic League All-Stars last Tuesday, with the pair set to represent the Power at this year's Midsummer Classic in Greensboro, N.C., on June 19 at First National Bank Field. Stafford received his second consecutive All-Star nod, while Mitchell secured his first mid-season accolade. Stafford is the first Power catcher to garner an All-Star selection since Reese McGuire in 2014.

POWER POINTS: West Virginia scored first for the 10th time in their last 11 games. The Power are 25-12 when scoring first (10-16 when they allow the first run)... Cruz recorded his 18th multi-hit game of the season, second on the team to Mitchell (19) with his 2-for-5 effort Thursday. He is also riding a six-game hitting streak since June 8, during which he is averaging .308 (8-for-26) with three RBI. This six-game stretch is Cruz's third hit streak of six games or more.

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