Bowie Baysox Even Up Playoff Series with Akron Aeros with 11-3 Game Two Win

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – (Bowie, MD) – The Baysox stormed back a night after losing the opening game of the best-of-five game Southern Division series, taking game two 11-3 behind a monster night for Nolan Reimold. Akron’s Matt LaPorta was the hero in game one, with two homers and four runs driven in, but Reimold stole the show with his performance Thursday. Brad Bergesen protected the sizable lead with a dominant performance, working 8.0 innings of four-hit ball.

Reimold stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the first after Carlos Rojas hit an infield single to first base. Reimold drove the second pitch he saw well over the scoreboard in left field for the second consecutive game, it was his first homerun of the evening and drove in his first two runs. He grounded out to shortstop in the bottom of the second, but came up again with the bases empty and two outs in the fourth. He drilled a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left-center for homerun number two and RBI number three. With Jonathan Tucker on second base in the sixth inning, Reimold slapped a base hit over short to plate his fourth run of the night. Nolan brought the house down with his final at bat in the bottom of the eighth. The Baysox loaded the bases with one out on a single and two consecutive walks before Reimold drove them all in with his third homerun of the night, an opposite field grand slam to right-center. With that swing, Reimold wrote his way into Baysox record books. He became the first Baysox player to hit three homeruns in a game since 1998 and set a franchise record for RBI in a playoff game with eight. Despite this being his first playoff series, Reimold has eclipsed the franchise record for career postseason homeruns with four. He becomes the first player in franchise history to hit three homeruns in a postseason game. Reimold is red hot heading to Akron, having hit nine homeruns in his last ten games. He is on a six-game run scoring streak and has scored 12 runs in his last 10 games.

Reimold acknowledged that he had a good night, “I think that’s the first time I’ve hit three homeruns in a game, I just went out there and things went right for me today. Hopefully I can keep this going throughout the playoffs. I’ve just been feeling good at the plate and getting pitches to hit. I’ve been able to capitalize on them. I don’t think I’ve ever been in this kind of groove. I’ve been feeling really good, so as long as I can keep my swing going through the playoffs I’ll be happy.” He also experienced his first curtain call as the Bowie fans urged him out following the grand slam. “I wasn’t going to go out, but someone pushed me.”
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Baysox hitting coach Moe Hill has liked what he’s seen from Reimold the past couple of weeks, “He’s swinging well, just like we like to see him swing it. He’s been working on a few things, like getting his hands started earlier. It’s starting to pay off. He’s made some minor adjustments recently. He struggled for a while then started coming in for some early work and he’s been able to put it together.”

The Baysox allowed a run in the top of the first when Josh Rodriguez hit a triple to center field on an 0-2 pitch to lead off the game. Brandon Sardinha grounded out to short on the next play, allowing Rodriguez to score and give Akron a 1-0 lead.

Bowie answered back with three runs in the bottom of the inning, including Reimold’s initial blast. Jeff Nettels also supplied an RBI single, driving in Matt Wieters to make it 3-1 Baysox after one. Carlos Rojas drove in another run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second, scoring Sebastien Boucher and giving Bowie a 4-1 lead.

Reimold’s solo shot in the fourth made the score 5-1 Bowie before the Aeros pushed across another run in the top of the sixth. Brandon Chaves walked to lead off the inning and Josh Rodriguez hit a chopper to short, a potential double play ball. Blake Davis flipped to Carlos Rojas at second, but the relay throw to first was wide of the bag and allowed Rodriguez to advance all the way to third base. Sardinha drove Rodriguez in on another ground ball to shortstop to make the score 5-2 Baysox.

Reimold answered back with his RBI single in the bottom of the inning, making the lead 6-2.

Akron got one back in the top of the seventh on a solo homerun by Matt Whitney to make the score 6-3 Baysox.

Eastern League Pitcher of the Year Brad Bergesen looked like his old self Thursday, tossing 8.0 innings to earn the victory. Bergesen was coming off his worst stretch of the season, having lost his last three starts. He felt better Thursday and attributed that to the playoff atmosphere in the ballpark, “It was a great thing to be able to go out tonight, a game down, and get 11 runs from our team. I think getting to the playoffs gives you that little extra second wind of adrenaline. I felt really good out there tonight.” Perhaps most impressive was the way Bergesen handled Akron star Matt LaPorta. One day after LaPorta terrorized Baysox pitching, Bergesen sent him down all three times he came up, including two strikeouts. “The guy is such a great hitter. I felt Wieters called a great game against him tonight and I just tried to deliver what he asked and it worked out.”

Steve Torrealba got in on the action with a solo homerun of his own in the bottom of the seventh to give Bowie a 7-3 lead. Reimold put the game out of reach with one swing in the bottom of the eighth, hitting his first grand slam of the year to make it 11-3 Baysox.

Julio Manon came on and worked a shutout top of the ninth, allowing one hit and striking out two batters to close out game two. With the victory, the Baysox tie the best-of-five game series at one game a piece and head to Akron to play two Friday and Saturday. RHP David Hernandez (10-4, 2.68 ERA) will go up against Aeros LHP Ryan Edell (7-8, 3.80 ERA). The Baysox will return to Bowie for a decisive game five if necessary Sunday, September 7 at 5:05 p.m.

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