SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

West Virginia Power: Game Notes (June 28)

Published on June 28, 2018 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


West Virginia goes for its second series win against Hickory in the second half tonight at Appalachian Power Park, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. RHP Max Kranick (1-3, 3.99 ERA) toes the rubber for the Power.

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SHARPE CARRIES OFFENSE IN 4-3 WIN: Chris Sharpe drove in all four West Virginia runs and Gavin Wallace spun another quality start as the Power claimed a 4-3 win in the series opener over the Hickory Crawdads Wednesday evening at Appalachian Power Park. Sharpe tallied three of his career-high tying four RBI in the sixth with a three-run home run to right-center field to put West Virginia in front for good at 4-2. The Power outfielder plated the first run in the fourth with an RBI ground-rule double that brought in Deon Stafford to tie the game at one apiece. Meanwhile, Wallace dazzled on the mound again, ceding two runs on four hits while striking out three and walking two over six solid innings of work. Joel Cesar continued his dominant stretch since his return from the disabled list, tossing two scoreless innings of one-hit ball, while Matt Seelinger closed out the game in the ninth despite allowing a homer to Tyreque Reed that made it a one-run game. Derek Heffel took the loss in relief after surrendering Sharpe's blast.

SHARPE AS A TACK: Sharpe turned in the second four-RBI game of his career Wednesday after going 2-for-3 with a double, home run, four RBI and a run scored. His only other four RBI game came on July 23, 2017, when he was with the Short-Season West Virginia Black Bears. Sharpe posted the first four RBI game for the Power since Oneil Cruz drove in four runs on May 10 at Hagerstown. The Burlington, Mass., native now has four multi-RBI games and 14 multi-hit games with West Virginia in 2018. He has posted a multi-hit or multi-RBI game in six of his last nine games.

QUALITY WALLY: Wallace twirled his seventh quality start with West Virginia Wednesday, tied for the most on the Power with Domingo Robles. Since July 16, 2017, Wallace has allowed more than three earned runs just twice in his 22 starts (23 appearances), and has worked five innings-plus in all but four of those outings (two rain-affected in 2018, one relief appearance with the Black Bears). West Virginia is 18-6 when its starter goes six innings or more in a game.

SAVE ME SEELINGER: Since the departure of Blake Weiman to Bradenton, Seelinger has assumed the team's primary closer role in 2018. Seelinger locked down his sixth save in as many opportunities Wednesday, the most on the team. In 19 appearances, the Farmingdale State College product holds a 1-2 record and a 2.35 ERA, the third-best mark among all current Power relievers. Over his 23 innings with West Virginia, he has struck out 36 batters and walked just seven while holding opposing sluggers to a .216 clip against him. Seelinger has only allowed a run in six of his 19 relief outings with the Power. The New York native's ninth-inning ERA has been superb despite allowing the homer in the ninth yesterday, with the righty posting a 1.64 mark (2 ER/11 IP) while striking out 21 batters to just three walks. He has fared much better against lefties in 2018, holding them to a .182 (8-for-444) clip versus a .250 (11-for-44) average for righties. West Virginia has won the last four games Seelinger has appeared in. Seelinger recorded the Power's first four-strikeout inning since August 18, 2017, when Julio Eusebio punched out four Greenville Drive batters in the ninth inning at Flour Field to finish off a 10-8 West Virginia victory.

HOLY HOMERS: Sharpe's home run was West Virginia's 56th of the season, fifth-most in the South Atlantic League. Only Lexington (77), Asheville (75), Hickory (64) and Augusta (61) have more homers than the Power in 2018. Sharpe registered his first home run since June 3 at Greensboro. Every active Power batter has at least one home run this season except for Jesse Medrano, Fabricio Macias and Raul Siri, all of whom joined the team within the month of June.

HEY SIRI: Siri was promoted to West Virginia prior to Wednesday's series opener from the West Virginia Black Bears, where he averaged .278 in 10 games with three RBI and five runs scored. Siri was on the Power's roster for a portion of last season but did not play in a game, instead spending the entire year in Morgantown. An international free agent signee in 2013, Siri is a career .259 hitter with 12 homers and 98 RBI in 242 minor league games. The Dominican native has elevated at least one level in each successive year he has played in the Pirates system.

ONE-RUN FUN: West Virginia is now 12-11 in one-run games in 2018, which is sixth-best in terms of winning percentage in the SAL. The Power also turned in their 15th comeback win of the season Wednesday.

POWER POINTS: The Power are 24-16 in games decided by two runs or less... 16 of West Virginia's 29 runs in the second half have come with two outs in the inning... The Power has not lost a series since June 1-3 in Greensboro... Last night's victory gave West Virginia the season series win over the Hickory Crawdads. The Power have not lost a season series to Hickory since dropping nine of 10 matchups in 2014... Lolo Sanchez swiped his team-leading 15th stolen base of the season Wednesday... West Virginia went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, stranding seven men on base.

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South Atlantic League Stories from June 28, 2018


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