Lakewood BlueClaws Homer Way Past West Virginia Power 3-1 - A, South Atlantic League

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - LAKEWOOD, N.J. - In a game that was all about the pitchers, a pair of BlueClaws hitters stole the show on Sunday afternoon. Julain Sampson and Amaury Rivas kept the offenses in check, but Dennis Winn's eight- inning home run helped the BlueClaws to a 3-1 victory over West Virginia at FirstEnergy Park.

Winn's second home run of the season snapped a 1-1 tie in the bottom of he eighth and helped to end the BlueClaws season-long six game losing streak. The two-run shot came with two outs off of Power reliever Reed Dickert (0-1).

The blast proved to be the difference in a game dominated by starting pitching. Rivas, who missed the entire 2007 season after having Tommy John surgery, finished seven innings for just the second time this season. Rivas gave up just one run on four hits in seven innings.

The one blemish against Rivas came in the fourth, when Michael Taylor blasted a two-out solo home run to leftfield. Taylor's seventh home run of the year gave the BlueClaws a 1-0 advantage.

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But Rivas did not factor in decision, largely because of the strong performance by Sampson. The 19-year old right-hander did not allow a run in 5 2/3 innings, while also giving up just four hits.

Sampson's day came to a premature close when he was hit by a line drive in the bottom of the sixth inning. Zelous Wheeler turned a Sampson fastball around and the lined shot hit Sampson in the side.

Sampson went down immediately, but did leave the field under his own strength. He returned to the BlueClaws dugout later in the ballgame.

Sergio Escalona (1-1) took over from Sampson and earned the win, giving up one run in 2 1/3 innings. Escalona did give up the equalizing run in the seventh inning on back-to-back two-out hits, but was the pitcher of record when Winn went deep.

Jared Simon pitched a scoreless ninth inning to claim his fourth save of the season.

The game lasted one hour and 59 minutes, the shortest game of the season for the BlueClaws.

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