SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

WV Power Game Notes

Published on May 17, 2014 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


Delmarva Shorebirds (21-19) at West Virginia Power (13-28)

Game 42 | May 17, 2014 | Appalachian Power Park | Charleston, WV

Radio: Charleston's ESPN 104.5 & 1490 - wvpower.com Airtime: 6:45 pm

TONIGHT'S MATCH-UP

LH Luis Gonzalez (0-0, 0.00) vs. RH Justin Topa (2-1, 4.64)

Gonzalez: Pitched one scoreless inning of relief on 5/11 vs. LWD with 1 K (6-5 BlueClaws)

Topa: Allowed 2 R on 3 H over 6.0 IP with 3 K and 2 BB in 5/12 Win @ GRV (10-3 Power)

THE LEAD OFF: West Virginia dropped its second straight 2-1 final at Augusta. The Power took a 1-0 lead in the first when Justin Maffei scored on a Reese McGuire ground out. The GreenJackets scored twice in the second against Power starter Cody Dickson. Brandon Bednar scored on a double by Ryan Tuntland, who later crossed on a single by Cristian Paulino. Augusta starter Matt Lujan retired ten straight between the third and sixth innings. Lujan and two relievers also combined to set aside the final nine West Virginia batters of the game. Dickson took the loss as the Power fell in two out of three games at Lake Olmstead Stadium.

ONE-RUN "LEADERS": The Power are now 7-12 in one-run games this season after falling three times by one during the seven game road trip. West Virginia also won once by one during the swing through South Carolina and Georgia. Nine of the other 13 South Atlantic League clubs have now played in one-run games ten or more times this season, though none have played as many as the Power. Kannapolis is second with 15 one-run games (8-7 record).

SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT: West Virginia and Delmarva meet for the first time this season tonight; game one of 15 between the clubs in 2014. The Power and Shorebirds have played each other 119 times since 2005 and West Virginia holds a slim 60-59 edge in the all-time series. The Power hold a 38-29 mark at home against the 'Birds, the South Atlantic League affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles since 1997. That affiliation is the second longest pairing in the league, trailing only Asheville's tenure with Colorado (1994).

FINE NINE: Reese McGuire's hitting streak was extended to nine consecutive games with a third inning single on Friday. The catcher is hitting .378 with 14 hits over his last 37 at bats since May 7.

DOWN DIME: West Virginia's home losing streak has reached ten straight after having been swept by Savannah from May 7-9. It is the longest such streak in franchise history, surpassing the previous record of seven in a row during May of the 2008 season.

FIRST IN A PINCH: Kawika Emsley-Pai filled in at first base in the tenth inning on Wednesday after pinch hitting for Edwin Espinal. After 197 appearances at behind the plate during his professional career, Emsley-Pai made his first appearance at any other position. All three outs in the tenth were strikeouts, so he did not have a putout.

OVER-UNDER: For the first time this season, the Power's starting rotation has a combined earned run average that is less than the collective of the Power bullpen. Two earned runs charged to the relievers on Thursday raised the bullpen ERA to 4.09. Six shutout innings by Buddy Borden lowered the rotation's combined ERA to 3.96 at that point.

BONUS BASEBALL: Prior to Wednesday's game, the Power were the only team in the South Atlantic League that had not played at least one extra inning game this season. 39 marks the second most number of games into the season that West Virginia has gone before playing an extra inning game (43 in 2011). Since 2005, the Power have gone to extras no less than eight times (2008) in a year and no more than 14 (2010 and 2011).

PROMO UPDATE- MAY 20: West Virginia hosts Delmarva at 10:30 am on Tuesday. It is the second and final Grand Slam School Day of the season at Appalachian Power Park.

POWER POINTS: JaCoby Jones was ejected in the ninth Wednesday and was the first Power player to be ejected from a game this season... Erich Wiess went hitless Thursday and saw his seven-game streak snapped.

AROUND THE ORGANIZATION: Pittsburgh's game against the Yankees was postponed due to rain. The teams will play two tomorrow... Indianapolis walked-off 6-5 against Pawtucket... The Indians scored three in the ninth to win, including a run-scoring single by Chris McGuiness to win it... Altoona dropped a 2-1 final against Richmond... Bradenton lost 3-2 to Dunedin. Josh Smith allowed a run in the ninth in the loss.

ON THE AIR: West Virginia Power games can be heard on Charleston's ESPN 104.5 FM and 1490 AM in Charleston, online at wvpower.com and on the TuneIn Radio App. Adam Marco will call the action for all 140 games and will be joined by Jake Corrigan when the team plays at Appalachian Power Park.

Check out the Charleston Dirty Birds Statistics

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



South Atlantic League Stories from May 17, 2014


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