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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Swept Away by P-Nats

June 5, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - The Wilmington Blue Rocks' offense ended a season-long 19.1-inning scoreless drought on Sunday afternoon, but it was not enough to bring the team's recent swoon to a close. The Potomac Nationals beat the Blue Crew, 5-4, to complete a three-game sweep of the Rocks.

Wilmington starter Tim Melville cruised through his first four frames, holding the P-Nats scoreless. But he ran into trouble in the fifth, surrendering three runs to break up a scoreless tie.

Cutter Dykstra opened the scoring with a one-out RBI double to left. Eury Perez followed with a run-scoring triple to the right-center field alley. He came around to score one batter later on Jose Lozoda's sacrifice fly to left.

The Rocks' bats finally came alive in the very next half frame. The inning began with a walk to Deivy Batista. He went to third one out later on Carlo Testa's single to right. Rey Navarro followed with a run-producing liner to center which put Wilmington on the board.

That was all for Potomac starter Mitchell Clegg who gave way to southpaw Josh Smoker. Smoker immediately surrendered an RBI liner to right off the bat of John Whittleman to make it, 3-2. After a Tim Ferguson walk, Jose Bonilla tied the game on a sacrifice fly to left. Wilmington then took the lead on Alex McClure's RBI infield single to second.

The advantage would not last long however, as Potomac put two more tallies on the board in the sixth. Melville (5-6) retired Justin Bloxom to open the frame and jumped in front of J.P. Ramirez with an 0-2 count. Four straight balls followed though for a free pass that would prove costly.

Brian Peacock moved Ramirez to third base on his double down the left-field line. J.R. Higley evened the score at, 5-5, with a single to left and then Justino Cuevas put Potomac ahead to stay with an RBI liner to left-center.

Meanwhile the Wilmington offense could only kick itself after squandering multiple scoring opportunities. The Rocks loaded the bases with only one out, but failed to score in the opening inning. They put a runner in scoring position with no outs in the second and stranded him 90 feet from the plate. In the third, they had a runner thrown out at the plate, and then in the sixth they left yet another man in scoring position.

Despite allowing both inherited runners to score, Smoker (2-1) got the win for the P-Nats. Hector Nelo worked around a two-out walk to nail down the save in his Potomac debut.

Wilmington welcomes the Kinston Indians to town for a four-game series starting Monday at 7:05 p.m. Right-hander Tyler Sample (3-3, 2.72) hits the hill for the Rocks against Kinston ace Drew Pomeranz (1-1, 1.85). Broadcast coverage begins at 6:35 p.m. when 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.

It is a Dollar Monday presented by TD Bank. Fans can buy one ticket and get a second for just one dollar. In addition, every Monday home game is a Dollar Dog Night, courtesy of Dietz & Watson. For tickets call 302-888-BLUE or visit bluerocks.com

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

John Whittleman, who entered Sunday in a 4-for-40 slump, had two hits and drove in a run. Alex McClure also showed some signs of life at the plate, breaking out of a 3-for-29 funk with a two-hit afternoon.

Rey Navarro enjoyed another two-hit game on Sunday. The second baseman's performance included his Carolina League leading seventh triple of the season. Navarro has 19 multi-hit outings in only 54 games played in 2011. He had 18 such performances in 110 games with the Rocks a season ago.

The loss meant the Rocks were swept in a series for just third time in 2011. Two of those have come in the last three series though. Wilmington is also in the midst of its first three-game home losing streak of the season. The Blue Crew had not lost three consecutive games at home since July 29-31 of 2010.

Wilmington has not recorded double-digit hits in a game since May 21. During that 14-game run it has scored three runs only three times.

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Carolina League Stories from June 5, 2011


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