CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Offense Gets Creative During Win in the Nightcap

Published on April 17, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - There was good news and bad news for the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Saturday. The Rocks failed to overcome a 5-2 fifth inning deficit in the resumption of their suspended home opener to start the evening, losing 7-3. But Wilmington took care of business in a 7-2 victory in the seven-inning nightcap.

Wilmington's win began in odd fashion. The Rocks tallied a run in the opening inning without recording a hit. Patrick Norris walked, then was sacrificed to second by Adrian Ortiz. He went to third on an errant pickoff attempt by Potomac starter A.J. Morris, and came home on Eric Hosmer's RBI fielder's choice.

The Rocks nearly duplicated the feat in the second inning. J.D. Alfaro's two out swinging bunt was fielded by Morris, but his throw to first was mishandled by Tyler Moore. Alfaro advanced to scoring position and then scored when Norris' nubber in front of the plate was misplayed by Morris. The pitcher fielded it and although he had no chance of throwing Norris out still threw to first base. The result was a high toss into right field, which allowed Alfaro to score.

Potomac then cut the lead in half without the aid of a hit. Back-to-back walks to open the frame off the arm of starter Ivor Hodgson were followed by a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly by Robby Jacobsen.

The P-Nats tied the game in the fourth on consecutive doubles by Moore and Peacock. Hodgson worked his way out of further trouble however, stranding Peacock at third on a liner to first, a strike out and a grounder to third.

Wilmington took the lead for good in the bottom of the frame. Alfaro started the inning with a single. Juan Rivera then attempted to bunt him into scoring position. But he looked at three straight balls, then a strike, fouled a bunt attempt off, and finally watched a payoff pitch sail high for a walk. After Norris bunted into a fielder's choice, retiring Alfaro at third, and Ortiz bounced into one which nabbed Norris at second, a wild pitch to Hosmer plated Rivera and gave Wilmington a 3-2 lead.

The Rocks blew the game open in the fifth. Singles by Jamie Romak and Jamar Walton set the frame up. They were moved into scoring position on Salvador Perez's perfectly placed sacrifice bunt. Ryan Wood then walked to load the bases.

That set the stage for Alfaro's bases-clearing triple into the right-center field gap, which put the game out of reach. Alfaro finished the night, 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored.

Manauris Baez (1-0), who tossed a pair of scoreless frames out of the bullpen, got the win.

The opener, which actually began on Friday night, saw Potomac get its lead courtesy of runs in the second, third and fourth innings, plus some shaky Wilmington defense.

In the second, Robby Jacobsen reached on a bunt single with one out. He then moved into scoring position after getting picked off, but reached second on a Hosmer throwing error. He circled around to score on Nick Moresi's RBI liner up the middle. Wilmington avoided further damage when Ortiz gunned down Moresi at the plate on Jose Lozada's single to right.

Wilmington was not so fortunate in the third, as Potomac posted a three-spot. Back-to-back-to-back hits by Steve Lombardozzi, Brian Peacock and Michael Burgess plated the first run. A sacrifice fly to right by Tyler Moore scored the inning's second run. Wilmington gave Potomac one more tally when Norris totally misjudged Jacobsen's two-out liner to left-center. The centerfielder started in then tried to race back, but by then it was way too late. The ball made it almost all the way to the warning track and Potomac had a 4-1 lead.

The P-Nats upped the advantage to 5-1 courtesy of another defensive mistake by Norris in the fourth. This time with runners at first and second, Norris failed to catch a pop fly in shallow center. In Norris' defense, he was battling heavy raindrops pouring down at the time. The error resulted in Lozada circling around to score.

The news was not all bad for Norris. His first-inning triple resulted in Wilmington's first run. Norris came home on Hosmer's RBI grounder to first. Wilmington cut it to 5-2 on Wood's line-drive homer to left to open the home fifth, the team's first of the season.

Play resumed on Saturday afternoon as the Rocks had two outs and two men on base with Hosmer at the plate, and a 2-1 count in the fifth. On the first pitch Hosmer bounced a dribbler up the third-base line for an infield single, which loaded the bases.

Wilmington failed to take advantage though, as Romak hit the ball hard, but right back to pitcher Cory Van Allen to end the threat.

Potomac blew the game open in the sixth on Brian Peacock's two-run single.

Wilmington did manage a meaningless tally in the eighth. Hosmer singled, and then scored on Jason Taylor's RBI triple to the left-center gap.

Chris Dwyer (0-1) took the loss for the Rocks. The right-hander allowed five runs (three earned) in four frames of work. VanAllen took the win out of the bullpen for Potomac.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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



Carolina League Stories from April 17, 2010


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