CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wild pitches plate winner in 4-3 victory

Published on May 14, 2008 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Kinston, NC - Down a run in the ninth, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (17-21) faced the Carolina League's most fearsome closer this season in Kinston's Luis Perdomo at Grainger Stadium on Wednesday night. Perdomo had not allowed a single earned run all season and boasted the best batting average against in all of A-ball (.104). But the Rocks rallied, tagging Perdomo with his first earned run of the season on an RBI single from Anthony Seratelli, who also scored on a wild pitch during the inning, and the Blue Rocks held on for a 4-3 win. Piggybacker Greg Holland (3-2) earned the win in relief, Wilmington's third victory in 17 tries when trailing after eight innings. With back-to-back one-run wins, the Blue Crew owns a 2-1 lead on the four-game set.

Down 3-2, Jeff Bianchi ignited the ninth-inning rally with a one-out single to right-center field, his third hit on the night. His teammates followed with another couple of singles, as Josh Johnson bounced a hit up the middle and Seratelli knocked Bianchi in with a single to right. On the throw home, Johnson advanced to third base while Seratelli took second. Jarrod Dyson grounded a ball to shortstop, and Kinston's Carlos Rivero threw home where Johnson was tagged out at the plate. Johnson lowered his shoulder into catcher Alex Castillo, knocking the backstop down to one knee, but Castillo held on to record the out.

On the throw home to nab Johnson, Seratelli took third base as the go-ahead score. With Derrick Robinson at the plate, Perdomo fired a wild pitch that escaped Castillo, allowing Seratelli to slide home safely from third for the 4-3 score that would go final.

Holland made sure of that with 4.2 innings of shutout relief behind starter Everett Teaford. Holland worked around a one-out double in the ninth to bolt down the win. He entered in the fifth inning after Teaford surrendered a one-out double to Johnny Drennen and an RBI single to Beau Mills for a 3-1 deficit. Holland retired Jared Goedert and Nick Weglarz on fly-ball outs to strand Mills at first base. The former Western Carolina University star faced just three men over the minimum and never allowed an Indian beyond second base, allowing three hits, one walk and striking out two.

The Blue Rocks grabbed the lead in the opening inning on back-to-back two-out doubles by Kurt Mertins and Joe Dickerson, a lead that vanished in controversial fashion in the third inning. Castillo worked a full count to lead off the inning and hammered a Teaford pitch to deep left-center field. At first, the call was a double and Castillo stalled his trot at second base. But first-year Kinston manager Chris Tremie came out to argue, prompting home plate umpire Anthony Johnson to discuss the play with base umpire Matt Arcovio. After a fairly short chat, Johnson twirled his right index finger to indicate home run, tying the game, 1-1. Wilmington skipper Darryl Kennedy came out to protest, but the overturned call to home run stood. Kinston took its first that same inning when Drennen singled and Mills followed with an RBI double for a 2-1 hole.

Wilmington concludes its four-game series in Kinston on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. Right-hander Matt Kniginyzky (0-4, 5.14) is slated to face fellow righty Carlton Smith (1-1, 4.97).

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE: Wednesday treats Wilmington better than any other day of the week so far this season, with the team going 5-1 in Wednesday affairs.

The Blue Rocks have won back-to-back road games for the third time this season. The squad has not yet tasted victory in three straight road games in 2008.

Wilmington by far leads the Carolina League in late rallies. While the Blue Rocks have assembled three victories in 17 tries when trailing after eight innings (.176) this season, no other team in the league has more than one. In fact, the rest of the circuit is a collective 5-106 (.045) in such circumstances, including winless records by the Potomac Nationals (0-13) and Winston-Salem Warthogs (0-16).

The Blue Rocks stole four bases in four tries on the night, raising their team total to 87 steals in 125 tries. That total lead not just the Carolina League, but all of minor league baseball and puts the team on pace to steal 321 bases this season. Should it reach that number, the Blue Crew would shatter the franchise (171, 1998) and Carolina League (293, 1980) records for stolen bases in a season.

Jeff Bianchi went 3-for-4 on the game with a double and two runs scored. He owns his first three-game hitting streak of the season, raising his batting average by 56 points in the process to a season-high .167.

Josh Johnson went 2-for-3 on the game with a walk and two stolen bases. He leads the team with 26 walks and a .490 on-base percentage.

Jarrod Dyson singled, knocked in a run and stole two bases on the game. He now has 13 steals in 18 tries, good for third in the loop. He trails only teammates Joe Dickerson (16) and Derrick Robinson (15).

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from May 14, 2008


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