West Virginia Power Electrifies the Savannah Sand Gnats in Series Sweep

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – Savannah, GA (July 10, 2008) – The West Virginia Power matched their longest winning streak of the season on Thursday night at Grayson Stadium as they defeated the Savannah Sand Gnats 5-4 to win their sixth game in a row, and they swept the Sand Gnats in the process.  

West Virginia scored first on Steffan Wilson’s two-run triple in the top of the first inning.  On the play, Greg Veloz’s errant relay throw allowed Wilson to score.  The Sand Gnats scored twice in the bottom of the first on a double from Sean McCraw.  The Power added to their lead in the second inning when Matt Cline scored on an errant throw from Maikel Cleto.  Wilson struck again in the third inning on an RBI double to score Caleb Gindl.   

In the bottom of the third inning with runners on second and third, the game was delayed by 40 minutes due to rain.  During the delay a mistake on the Savannah lineup card was revealed.  Francisco Pena was originally in the lineup as a designated hitter batting sixth and Richard Pena was listed as the right fielder batting seventh.  It was revealed during the delay on the lineup card held by umpire Bryan Dormaier that the two were switched and the two Pena’s batted out of order.  Because of the violation, Francisco Pena was taken out of the game, Richard Pena had to bat sixth, and the pitcher occupied the seventh spot in the order.   

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McCraw’s groundout after the delay in the third scored Veloz to make it a two-run game.  The Sand Gnats scored one final time when B.J. Hubbert hit a pinch-hit homerun in the seventh inning.   

Evan Anundsen (8-4) battled through six and a third, allowing four runs on seven hits and came away with the victory.  Corey Frerichs (7) allowed just a hit over two and two-thirds scoreless innings of relief to get the save.  Cleto (3-7) was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits over three innings.        

The Power improved to 48-42 on the year and 16-5 in the second half with the win.  The Sand Gnats fell to 40-51 on the year and 7-14 in the second half with the loss. Four Power players turned in multi-hit games.  Steffan Wilson knocked in three runs and extended his road hitting streak to 16 games.  Eric Fryer went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games and Eric Farris singled in the first inning to push his hitting streak to 13 games.  West Virginia has won three games in a row by one run and they have won four out of their last six by the same margin.     

The Power will begin a four game series against the Charleston Riverdogs at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Ballpark in Charleston, South Carolina on Friday night.  Right hander Amaury Rivas (6-3, 3.69) will make the start for the Power and the Riverdogs will counter with right hander Lance Pendleton (6-4, 2.64).  The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.   

Box Score:  http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_07_10_wvaafx_savafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb 

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