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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Whittleman Bombs Rocks to Triumph

July 7, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Salem, VA - John Whittleman hit two of the team's three home runs, all solo shots, as the Wilmington Blue Rocks (42-42, 6-9) defeated the Salem Red Sox (38-46, 7-8) on Thursday night, 5-2. The All-Star infielder has five home runs over his last five games in lifting his season-long total to a team-best 13. Nick Van Stratten added his first dinger on his current stint as a Blue Rock while starter Elisaul Pimentel (5-6) got the win and Bryan Paukovits logged his fourth save in as many tries with a perfect ninth.

Whittleman left the yard in both the second and fourth frames against starter Anthony Ranaudo (1-4) with both pull shots to right giving his team the lead. Salem scratched out a run with Jorge Padron's two-out single in the third, scoring Shannon Wilkerson. Van Stratten's dinger in the sixth, a solo shot to left, stretched the Wilmington advantage to 3-1. Miles Head blasted a homer over the left-center field fence against Pimentel in the sixth for a 3-2 game, but the Sox would not score again.

Whit Merrifield began the eighth with a double off Kendall Volz and scored one batter later on Carlo Testa's single to left. Right-hander Anatanaer Batista allowed an unearned run in the ninth when Kurt Mertins reached on an error and later scored when Jose Bonilla bounced into a fielder's choice.

Pimentel struck out six over his 6.1 innings of work. He allowed two runs on seven hits and one walk. Edgar Garcia stranded an inherited runner thereafter and whiffed one while retiring all five that he faced in bridging the way to Paukovits. The 6'5" reliever hit 97 mph on the in-house radar gun when he struck out Delaware native Derrik Gibson to end the game.

The three-game series concludes at 7:05 p.m. on Friday night. Wilmington right-hander Michael Mariot (5-1, 3.14) makes his third start of the season and first since swapping spots with Tim Melville, who has gone to the bullpen. Salem tosses Boston's third-ranked prospect according to Baseball America, southpaw Drake Britton (1-7, 7.26). Broadcast coverage begins at 6:35 p.m. as studio host Adam Dobrowolski brings fans the Rocks Report Pre-game Show, presented by Wawa, on 89.7 WGLS-FM and online at wgls.rowan.edu.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

John Whittleman is on pace to hit 21 homers this season, something no Blue Rock has done since Larry Sutton set the franchise record with 26 in 1994. Sutton would later spend seven seasons in the big leagues with the Royals, Cardinals, A's and Marlins.

Wilmington won for the fifth time in six games at Salem, making for by far the squad's best record on foreign soil this season. The Red Sox have won just three home games against any foe since May 7.

The Blue Rocks improved to 8-4 against Salem this season. Pitching has proved key in the series dominance, with Wilmington amassing a 2.01 team ERA in the process.

Nick Van Stratten has hit in each of his first eight games with this year's Blue Rocks. He has gone 12-for-28 (.429) with three stolen bases.

A night after Wilmington left nine men on base including six in scoring position, Salem struggled to a 1-for-8 showing with runners in scoring position.

Five of the Blue Rocks' eight hits went for extra bases.

Before the game, the Royals sent catcher Ryan Eigsti from the Blue Rocks to Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Former Blue Crewer Ben Theriot went on the temporarily inactive list for the Naturals. The move leaves the Rocks with 23 active players, two below the Carolina League's maximum. Eigsti has hit .250 with the Blue Crew during two different stints this season. In 14 games, he belted two homers and drove in five runs.

Jake Odorizzi made his Double-A debut on Thursday night. The Carolina League All-Star allowed just two runs over five innings against the Texas League's best offense at San Antonio. He struck out four and left in line for the win as of this story.

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