EL1 Chesapeake Baysox

Wieters Wallops Cats

Published on July 31, 2008 under Eastern League (EL1)
Chesapeake Baysox News Release


(Bowie, MD) - The Baysox bats stayed hot and the bullpen shut down the Rock Cats lineup to take Tuesday nights' contest, 9-1 over visiting New Britain. Rommie Lewis got the start out of the bullpen and had one of his best outings of the year, working 3.2 shutout innings and striking out seven batters while allowing just four hits. Offensively, Lou Montanez continued his tear, going 4-for-5 with three runs scored to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Matt Wieters had his most productive night as a member of the Baysox, going 4-for-5 with a homerun and five RBI.

Bowie got on the board in the bottom of the second when Wieters led off with a double to the gap in left-center. Steve Torrealba came up and crushed his fourth homerun of the year over the wall in left field to give the Baysox an early 2-0 lead. They added two more in their next turn at bat when Montanez led off the bottom of the third with a single up the middle. Nolan Reimold pulled a double down the left field line and Montanez held up briefly at third base. The left fielder relayed the ball to the shortstop who fired it home, but the ball got by New Britain catcher Rodolfo Palacios, allowing Montanez to score and Reimold to take third base. Wieters picked up his first RBI of the night with a single through the hole at short to make the score 4-0 Baysox.

The Baysox kept rolling in the bottom of the fourth, putting up four more big runs. Sebastien Boucher led things off with a walk and Alex Cintron singled to right field. Boucher hustled to third base on the play and the throw was late, but Cintron took a wide turn at first and New Britain third baseman Luke Hughes threw behind him at first base for the out. Carlos Rojas struck out and Montanez smacked another base hit up the middle to score Boucher. Nolan Reimold walked to put runners on first and second with two away and Matt Wieters stroked a three-run homerun over the wall in left-center to give Bowie an 8-0 lead.

Felix Romero came on for Lewis to close out the top of the fourth and worked a perfect fifth. David Winfree led off the top of the sixth with a single to left field and Romero committed a balk to move the runner to second. Erik Lis grounded out to short, moving Winfree to third and Brock Peterson brought him in with a triple to right-center field. Romero got out of the inning without further incident, striking out the last two batters.

Bowie got another run in the bottom of the eighth, also off the bat of Wieters. Carlos Rojas was hit by pitch to lead off and Montanez reached on a fielder's choice to put a man on first with one away. Nolan Reimold laced a base hit to left field and Montanez held up at second base. Wieters stepped in and guided a ground ball right up the middle to plate Montanez for his fifth RBI of the game. Wieters had a double, a homerun, and two singles on the night. He came up his last two times with a chance to hit for the cycle, something he's never done before, "I have not hit for the cycle before, the triple always seems to elude me. I think I've only had two triples before, both in college. This is a pretty good 3-4-5 here. I've been fortunate to be a part of some pretty good lineups growing up but I don't know if any are better 3-4-5 or top-to-bottom at getting on base for us."

Lou Montanez is red hot in the middle of the Bowie lineup, with RBI in each of his last five games. Over that span, he has collected 12 RBI, including a five-RBI game Sunday. Montanez attributes a lot of his recent success to his teammates, "I feel great, it's contagious when everybody starts hitting, you also start hitting. It seems like everything I do, Wieters matches it or does it better, it's pretty impressive. I gave him a bow after the game, he deserved it. When he's behind me in the lineup I get more pitches to hit. This lineup is a hitter's dream, it's kinda like a big league lineup on a smaller scale. I think we're the most dangerous lineup in the league. When you combine that with our pitching staff which is one of the best in the league, you have a very dangerous team."

The Baysox used four pitchers Tuesday night, combining for one run on nine hits allowed. The four hurlers also recorded 15 total strikeouts, the most combined strikeouts in any game this season.

With the victory, the Baysox improve to 63-48, matching their high-water mark for the year of 15 games over .500. The Baysox remain in second place in the Southern Division and look to take three in a row from the Rock Cats Wednesday night as RHP Chris Tillman (7-3, 3.44 ERA) will go up against New Britain RHP Yohan Pino (4-4, 4.26 ERA).

Wednesday night's contest with New Britain is Major League Baseball Madness - wear your favorite MLB gear to earn a discounted ticket to the game. Thursday night is the Miss Utility Diamond Dig where 50 lucky fans will have a chance to dig up a real diamond on the Prince George's Stadium infield. The Baysox will head to Altoona for a three-game series beginning Friday and will return for a seven-game homestand beginning Monday, August 4 against the Binghamton Mets.

The Bowie Baysox are in their 16th season as the "AA" affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. Baysox individual game tickets, season ticket plans, group outings, picnics and birthday parties are currently available for booking by calling the Baysox front office at (301) 464-4880.

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Eastern League Stories from July 31, 2008


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