SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

WEST VIRGINIA POWER: Game Notes (June 30)

Published on June 30, 2018 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


West Virginia opens up a four-game road trip in Hagerstown, Maryland, tonight, with first pitch set for 6:05 p.m. from Historic Municipal Stadium. RHP Hunter Stratton (3-3, 5.83 ERA) toes the rubber.

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SANCHEZ POWERS WEST VIRGINIA TO SERIES WIN: Lolo Sanchez's two-run homer marked the difference as West Virginia rode another quality start from Domingo Robles to a series victory over the Hickory Crawdads with a 5-3 win in the series finale Friday evening at Appalachian Power Park. Sanchez's two-run blast in the sixth off Jean Casanova pushed the Power in front, 5-2, and gave the bullpen all the run support they needed to finish off the win. Beau Sulser worked the seventh and eighth innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out three. Matt Seelinger closed it out in the ninth with a scoreless frame, fanning a pair and walking one. Hickory managed to strike first against Robles in the second, as Pedro Gonzalez stroked a two-run jack to right-center to give the Crawdads a 2-0 lead. However, that would be the last hit Hickory would scratch against Robles, as the southpaw retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced, with the lone exception coming on a walk to Yonny Hernandez in the third. Meanwhile, West Virginia's offense came alive in the middle innings, tying the game at two in the fourth with back-to-back RBI doubles from Ryan Peurifoy and Kyle Watson. In the fifth, Fabricio Macias joined the RBI double party by plating Oneil Cruz to vault the Power in front, while Sanchez's long ball in the sixth capped the scoring.

ROLLING ROBLES: With six more solid innings Friday, Robles notched his team-leading eighth quality start of the season. The Dominican native has seven quality starts in his last 10 outings, including four consecutive in May and back-to-back efforts in June. Robles retired the last 11 men he faced in Friday's outing. The lefty leads the team in ERA (3.20), which is fifth-best in the Pirates system, and strikeouts (63). Robles is now 2-1 against Hickory in his career with a 3.32 ERA over 19 innings. He has struck out 12 Crawdads compared to just one walk in those three outings. The Power is now 19-6 when their starter tosses 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 seventh save (second of the series) in as many opportunities Friday, the most on the team. In 20 appearances, the Farmingdale State College product holds a 1-2 record and a 2.25 ERA, the best mark among all current Power relievers. Over his 24 innings with West Virginia, he has struck out 38 batters, one more than his season total from 2017 in the New York-Penn League, and walked just eight while holding opposing sluggers to a .217 clip against him. Seelinger has only allowed a run in six of his 20 relief outings with the Power. The New York native's ninth-inning ERA has been superb, with the righty posting a 1.50 mark (2 ER/12 IP) while striking out 23 batters to just four walks. He has fared much better against lefties in 2018, holding them to a .178 (8-for-45) clip versus a .255 (12-for-47) average for righties. West Virginia has won the last five games Seelinger has appeared in, and is 13-7 when Seelinger comes into a ballgame. In total, West Virginia's 23 saves on the season are tied for second-best in the SAL with Rome, while Lakewood leads the way with 31.

WHAT'S A WALK? Sulser twirled two more setup relief innings Friday to earn his first hold of the season. He has still yet to walk a batter through 17 appearances and 29.1 innings, while striking out 33 men. His WHIP is down to 0.92, second-lowest on the team to Cody Bolton (0.87). Sulser is the only remaining pitcher in all of professional baseball (including Major League Baseball) with no walks through a minimum of 20 innings pitched. West Virginia has won the last nine games Sulser has pitched in, and is 13-4 overall when Sulser comes into a contest.

HOLY HOMERS: Sanchez's home run was West Virginia's 57th of the season, tied with Delmarva for fifth-most in the South Atlantic League. Only Lexington (78), Asheville (77), Hickory (65) and Augusta (62) have more homers than the Power and Shorebirds in 2018. Sanchez recorded his first home run since May 29 at Lexington. Every active Power batter has at least one home run this season except for Jesse Medrano, Macias and Raul Siri, all of whom joined the team within the month of June.

LAST TIME IN HAGERSTOWN: West Virginia has not seen Hagerstown since they completed a three-game sweep of the Suns from May 9-11 at Historic Municipal Stadium. In that series, the Power outscored Hagerstown 22-5, including their largest margin of victory of the season in the middle match, when they delivered a 13-2 drubbing. That brooming was part of a six-game winning streak for West Virginia, tied for its longest of the season.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Power has won seven straight road games, courtesy of back-to-back sweeps of the Augusta GreenJackets and Hickory Crawdads at SRP Park and L.P. Frans Stadium. The club has not claimed eight games in a row on the road since a 12-game road winning streak from July 20-August 25, 2009, the longest stretch in club history.

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