CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Loses Game One, Nightcap suspended in the Sixth

Published on May 6, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - Lately at Frawley Stadium it has seemed like Mother Nature is the bully, and the Wilmington Blue Rocks are a poor school kid on the playground. Rain continues to torture this week's homestand, as for the third time in three nights, wet weather has interrupted baseball on the Riverfront. On Wednesday, it came in the sixth inning of a scoreless game two, after the Potomac Nationals took the opener of the scheduled doubleheader, 5-3.

The P-Nats got another spectacular pitching performance from starter Jeff Mandel. For the second time in less than a week Mandel (3-1) held the Blue Crew at-bay. In six frames, the right-hander allowed just one run on three hits. This came on the heels of his complete-game shutout of the Rocks in Potomac on Thursday.

Wilmington was held hitless through the first three innings, and wasted a lead-off double by Mike Moustakas in the fourth.

Meanwhile, Potomac took a one-run lead in the top half of the fourth. The P-Nats rally started with a one-out single by Chris Marrero. Michael Burgess followed with a double into the left-center field gap, which scored Marrero.

Wilmington finally showed signs of an offensive pulse in the fifth inning. Anthony Seratelli lifted the first pitch of the frame over the right field fence, evening the score.

But Potomac wasted little time, responding with a lead-off home run of its own in the top of the sixth by shortstop Danny Espinosa. Unfortunately that was just the opening of the P-Nats' offense in the inning. Chris Marrero followed with a seeing-eye single to right. That brought up Burgess, who blasted a high majestic home run down the left-field line. The ball was barely fair, but barely fair still counts, and the Rocks trailed 4-1.

Potomac added an insurance run in the seventh when Dan Lyons' sacrifice fly scored Boomer Whiting.

With their backs to the wall, the Rocks offense responded in the home seventh. A Jamar Walton single, a Matt Morizio walk, and a Derrick Robinson base hit loaded the bases with two outs. Jeff Bianchi followed with a two-run single which cut the deficit in half, and when Moustakas singled, Wilmington had the potential winning-run at the plate. But the rally died there, as Clint Robinson grounded into a fielder's choice to end the game.

Mario Santiago (1-3) took the loss for Wilmington. The right-hander allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings. Craig Rodriguez surrendered one run in his single frame of relief work.

In the nightcap the heavens opened up with one out in the home sixth of a scoreless game. Starter Everett Teaford cruised through six innings for the Rocks. The southpaw registered eight strikeouts and allowed only six hits.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

With game two suspended in the sixth, the Rocks and P-Nats will resume action on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Game two will follow, and will be a full nine-inning contest.

Anthony Seratelli's solo home run to open the fifth inning ended a string of 21.1 innings for the Blue Rocks against the Potomac Nationals.

Wednesday's loss dropped the Rocks to 12-13 for the season. It is the third time the Blue Crew has dropped under .500 in 2009. All three losses which gave the Rocks a losing record, have come to Potomac.

Mario Santiago had not allowed a single home run in his first four starts. On Wednesday he was victimized by the long ball twice in the same inning, and it cost the right-hander his third loss of the season.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from May 6, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central