SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

West Virginia Power: Game Notes (June 25)

Published on June 25, 2018 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


Following yesterday's postponement, West Virginia kicks off a six-game, five-day homestand against the Lakewood BlueClaws tonight at Appalachian Power Park. First pitch of game one is set for 5:05 p.m. with RHP Cody Bolton (2-0, 0.89 ERA) on the mound.

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STRATTON, HOMERS POWER SWEEP OF CRAWDADS: Hunter Stratton recorded his first career quality start, while Brett Pope and Oneil Cruz went deep to help West Virginia hold off a late Hickory rally and claim an 8-6 win in the series finale Saturday evening at L.P. Frans Stadium. Stratton tossed six stellar innings, allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out six and walking none. The right-hander ceded just one hit after the first inning, retiring 16 of the final 17 batters he faced. Meanwhile, the Power's offense scored first for the third straight game in the first inning, as Ben Bengtson stroked a two-out double against A.J. Alexy before stealing third and coming home on John Bormann's RBI single. After Hickory tied it in the bottom of the first, Jesse Medrano pushed West Virginia ahead for good with a sacrifice fly in the second. Three innings later, Pope tattooed a 2-1 pitch from Alexy over the right-field fence to make it 5-1 Power. Hickory scratched another run across in the bottom of the inning, but West Virginia tacked on insurance runs in the sixth and seventh on a run-scoring single from Ryan Peurifoy and a sacrifice fly from Bengtson. Ike Schlabach relieved Stratton in the bottom of the seventh and ran into immediate trouble, serving up a pair of homers in the inning to Yohel Pozo and Sam Huff to close the lead to 7-5. The Crawdads managed to eke a run across in the eighth against Samuel Reyes, but Cruz's blast in the ninth gave the Power a two-run cushion again, which was more than enough for Beau Sulser, who stranded two men on base to finish off the game in the ninth.

CRUZIN RIGHT ALONG: With his 2-for-4 day in the series finale, Cruz extended his hitting streak to 12 games, the longest active streak on the Power. During his streak that dates back to June 8, the Pirates' 13th-best prospect per MLB.com is averaging .426 (23-for-54) with two home runs and 11 RBI. This 12-game stretch is Cruz's third hitting streak of 10 games or more in 2018. The Dominican native recorded his 23rd multi-hit game of the season Friday, the most on the team, and has now posted multi-hit efforts in six of his last seven contests. Cruz's .318 average and 44 RBI are second in the SAL, and his 32 extra-base hits are tied for third and his .547 slugging percentage is third-highest.

STREAKING SHARPE: Sharpe also extended his hitting streak Friday with his 1-for-4 night. The Burlington, Mass., native is riding a season-best 11-game streak with a .405 (15-for-37) clip, his second streak of six games or more this year. Sharpe has posted a multi-hit or multi-RBI game in four of his last six games.

BREAK OUT THE BROOMS: With Saturday's win, the Power secured their third series sweep of the season. West Virginia's first sweep of the year was from May 9-11 in Hagerstown, where the Power took all three games in the midst of a six-game winning streak, tied for the team's longest of the season. West Virginia also broomed the Augusta GreenJackets in a four-game series at SRP Park from June 11-14, the team's first four-game sweep since August 3-6, 2017, when they broomed the Delmarva Shorebirds at Appalachian Power Park. The Power outscored the Crawdads 22-11 in the three-game sweep. West Virginia has now won seven consecutive road games, a season-high, with its back-to-back broomings of Augusta and Hickory. The Power's longest road winning streak in 2017 was seven (April 14-27).

HOLY HOMERS: With Pope and Cruz each leaving the yard Saturday, West Virginia now has 55 homers as a team in 2018, fifth-most in the South Atlantic League (Lexington, 77; Asheville, 75; Hickory, 62 and Augusta, 61). Cruz stroked his fourth road home run Saturday, with all four of them coming at L.P. Frans Stadium. Pope lofted his third career home run, all coming with the Power this season. Every active batter on West Virginia's roster has homered at least once in 2018 except for Fabricio Macias, who was just added to the Power's roster yesterday, and Medrano.

SHUTDOWN SULSER: Sulser has been a fantastic addition to the Power bullpen since joining West Virginia April 27 along with Drew Fischer. Through 15 appearances, the Dartmouth product has a 3-3 record with a 2.39 ERA and three saves. Over 26.1 innings, Sulser has struck out 29 batters and walked none. Since his worst outing of the season May 23 in Columbia, when he allowed four runs on six hits in an inning of work, the reliever has surrendered just seven hits and two runs (one earned) over 11 innings (eight appearances) with 14 strikeouts, lowering his ERA from 3.52 to 2.39, a difference of 113 points. West Virginia has won the last seven games Sulser has appeared in.

POWER POINTS: West Virginia is 29-12 when they score first... The Power are 23-16 in games decided by two runs or less... West Virginia is 15-0 when scoring seven or more runs in a game this season... Stratton did not issue a walk in a start for the second time this season... The Power will play in their ninth doubleheader in 2018 Monday. The team currently holds a 9-7 record in twin bills... West Virginia has won three consecutive series (AUG, DEL and HIC)... John Bormann was promoted to Double-A Altoona yesterday, while Fabricio Macias joined the Power's active roster.

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