Wilmington Blue Rocks Finish Sweep of Salem Avalanche with 7-2 Triumph
Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 12:33PM MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – Wilmington, DE – The Wilmington Blue Rocks had little trouble completing a three-game sweep of the Salem Avalanche on Wednesday night, turning in a 7-2 triumph at Frawley Stadium. The Blue Rocks fashioned four two-out runs in a hectic second inning and righty Mario Santiago posted his second victory of the season with five effective frames. It is just the third series victory the Rocks have enjoyed this season and the second three-game sweep.
A scoreless affair through one inning appeared headed that same way after two when Salem starter Casey Hudspeth recorded the first two outs in the bottom of the second frame. But, the Blue Rocks pulled off the remarkable feat of stringing together five consecutive singles to blow the game open.
Following pokes by Miguel Vega and Josh Johnson, catcher Matt Morizio punched a Hudspeth offering into left field to plate the first run. Brett Bigler followed suit and singled to left to chase Johnson home with the second run. Hudspeth (2-3) then made matters worse when he fielded a slow roller up the first base line by Jarrod Dyson and threw wildly to first base. Dyson would have beaten the throw and one run would have scored, but the errant toss allowed an additional run to cross, pushing the Blue Rock advantage to 4-0.
That would prove to be enough for Santiago (2-3), who set the tone for himself by retiring the first seven men to begin the game. The lone hiccup for the Puerto Rican righty was the result of questionable defense in the fourth inning. With the Rocks still holding a four-run bulge, Kurt Mertins failed to stop a hard-hit grounder to third with two outs and runners at second and third. The hot shot off the bat of Nick Moresi drove in two and halved the Wilmington advantage at 4-2.
Those unearned tallies were the only blemishes against Santiago, who fanned six and did not issue a walk in his five innings.
The Rocks added a two-spot in the sixth against Hudspeth. Joe Dickerson's fourth triple of the season plated Kurt Mertins, who singled and stole second to begin the inning. In the next at-bat, Anthony Seratelli re-established Wilmington's four-run advantage with a soft liner to right-center that scored Dickerson and made it 6-2.
Jeff Bianchi, who was activated off the disabled list earlier in the day, produced a sac fly in the seventh to complete the Blue Rock salvo.
Following an off day on Thursday, the Blue Rocks will be back at Frawley on Friday night to open a three-game set with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans at 7:05 p.m. Wilmington is scheduled to send the piggybacking duo of righty Greg Holland and southpaw Everett Teaford against Pelicans right-hander Ryne Reynoso.
GAME NOTES
The Blue Rocks improved to 10-6 at Frawley Stadium this year and have won their last four on the Riverfront.
The prior three-game sweep turned in by Wilmington this season occurred at Frawley Stadium on April 25-27, when the Rocks took care of the Winston-Salem Warthogs.
Jeff Bianchi, who was placed on the DL with a hamstring pull on April 19, started at second base and batted second for the Rocks on Tuesday. In addition to the sac fly, Bianchi went 0-for-3.
Jarrod Dyson batted leadoff for the third time this season and went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. He got the start in center field for just the fifth time, as Derrick Robinson was given the night off.
The right-handed bullpen duo of Russ Haltiwanger and Chris Nicoll combined on the final four innings of the game. Haltiwanger allowed two hits, struck out one and walked one in 2.1 innings. Nicoll got the final five outs of the game, surrendering just one base hit.
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