Salisbury, Md. - The Delmarva Shorebirds (20-33) dropped the series opener to the Hagerstown Suns (29-23) 5-3 on Thursday night. Delmarva is now 6-10 against Hagerstown this season.
Delmarva
struck first in the home half of the third after catcher Michael Ohlman
smacked a one out double into the left center field gap to plate Mikey
Planeta.
Hagerstown
came back to take the lead in the top of the fourth inning. Bryce
Ortega led off with a single and was driven in by Cutter Dykstra's
double down the third base line. Dykstra scored on a soft single to
right field by Justin Miller to put the Suns up 2-1.
Roderick
Bernadina tied the game up at two as he belted a one out homerun over
the left field fence for his first homer of the year.
The Suns scored three runs in the top of the ninth. Brett Newsome knocked a one out double down the left field line. J.R. Higley then hit a single to advance Newsome to third.
Newsome scored on a wild pitch by ‘Birds reliever Gene Escat. Khayyan
Norfork then hit his first home run of the year over the left field
fence to put the Suns up 5-2.
Delmarva
was able to score one in the ninth following Roderick Bernadina's RBI
single to left. However, they stranded two runners in scoring position
to end the game.
Shorebirds
starter Eduardo Rodriguez gave up only two runs on three hits over five
innings. He also struck out three and only walked one.
Jesse Beal relieved Rodriguez and pitched three scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and struck out three batters.
Picking
up the loss on the evening for Delmarva was Gene Escat (2-1, 4.34), who
pitched one inning and gave up three runs on three hits.
Hagerstown starter Blake Schwartz pitched six innings and gave up only one run on nine hits. He also recorded seven strikeouts.
Greg
Holt (3-2, 3.93) notched the victory for the Suns going two innings and
giving up one run on three hits. He also recorded a strikeout.
Colin Bates picked up his fourth save on the season pitching one inning of relief while giving up one run on two hits.
The next game for Delmarva will be Friday
night at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium against the Hagerstown Suns. First
pitch is scheduled for 7:05. The scheduled starter for Delmarva is Juan
Guzman (1-1, 7.94).
