West Virginia Power Nip Greensboro Grasshoppers 6-5 - Advanced A, South Atlantic League

MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Charleston, WV  – The West Virginia Power and Greensboro Grasshoppers went back and forth on Saturday night in a heated battle at Appalachian Power Park.  West Virginia took the lead on three different occasions and a fight nearly broke out in the fifth inning as the Power came away with a 6-5 victory to take the second game of the series.   

Zelous Wheeler reached on Matt Dominguez’s fielding error in the bottom of the first inning which allowed Matt Cline to score, giving the Power 1-0 lead.  Greensboro took their only lead of the game in the third inning where they scored twice on three hits.  Danny Garcia began the inning with a single and scored on Emilio Ontiveros’s double.  Ryan Curry singled later in
ADVERTISEMENT the inning to score Garcia, giving Greensboro the lead.  Steffan Wilson tied the game in the next half inning as he drove in his first of three runs with a two-out RBI single.   

The Power scored twice in the fourth inning to regain the lead.  Matt Cline hit into a 4-6-3 double play but drove in Curt Rindal in the process.  Eric Farris singled off Jay Voss before Voss was taken out in favor of Eric Basurto.  Basurto threw three wild pitches in a row to bring Farris around to score.  In the fifth inning, Basurto fell behind Caleb Gindl 2-0 before the next two pitches went behind Gindl, putting him on first base.  Steffan Wilson then hit a groundball to third base, giving the Grasshoppers a chance at a double play.  Gindl’s extremely hard slide into second base broke up the double play possibility and caused the benches to clear.  There were a number of heated discussions, but there were no ejections.   

Greensboro tied the game in the sixth inning with their second two-run inning.  Mike Stanton tripled in Bryan Petersen and scored on Ryan Anetsberger’s base hit.  Steffan Wilson struck again with two-outs in the sixth inning, as he singled in a pair of runs to put the Power ahead.  Greensboro scored one final run in the eighth when Stanton’s sacrifice fly plated Ryan Curry.   

R.J. Seidel (3-4) allowed four runs on six hits and fanned seven over six innings to get the victory.  Rob Bryson (4) fanned Tom Hickman with the tying run on third base to finish the game and earned the save.  Steven Cishek (1-2) gave up a pair of runs on two hits over two innings and was tagged with the loss.     

The Power improved to 30-37 with the win and the Grasshoppers fell to 38-30 with the loss. Farris paced the Power with a 3-for-5 performance while Wilson and Rindal chipped in with two hits a piece.  Gindl’s walk extended his on base streak to 15 games.  Zelous Wheeler reached on a walk in the sixth but went 0-3, bringing his 12 game hit streak to an end.   

The Power will continue the four game series with the Greensboro Grasshoppers at Appalachian Power Park on Saturday night.  Right hander Amaury Rivas (5-2, 3.02) will get the start for the Power and the Grasshoppers will counter with right hander Stu Alexander (6-5, 5.40).  The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.    

For more information contact the Power Front Offices at (304) 344-2287 or visit the Power website at www.wvpower.com.

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