Game Recaps 5/31

Huff, Bullpen Shut Down Baysox

AKRON, OH – Akron starter David Huff retired the first 11 hitters he faced and carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning, and the Aeros pitching staff struck out a dozen Bowie hitters in a 3-1 win Saturday night before 4,048 fans at Canal Park. The Aeros, winners of four in a row, jumped to 29-24 while the Baysox fell to 32-24. Akron pitchers have struck out 26 of 71 Bowie hitters in the first two games of this series.

Akron’s offense got started right away with a three-run rally in the first inning. With one down, Josh Rodriguez singled to right and moved to second on a Chris Gimenez walk. After Wes Hodges grounded out and advanced both runners, Bronson Sardinha lined a ball over the head of shortstop Travis Brown, who made a leaping attempt but could not corral the shot as Rodriguez scored. Matt Whitney then brought Gimenez and Sardinha home on a booming two-run double to right-center field, giving Akron a 3-0 lead.

After that, it was all Huff and the bullpen. The first hit for Bowie came on a double by Nolan Reimold leading off the fifth, but Huff got a fly out and two ground balls back to himself to finish the inning.

Bowie finally got on the board against Huff in the sixth. With one down, the Baysox strung together three straight singles to score the run, with Jonathan Tucker coming home on Lou Montanez’s base hit. Jeff Nettles followed with a sharp grounder up the middle, but second baseman Brandon Pinckney made a diving stab, flipped the ball from his stomach to Rodriguez covering the bag, and the shortstop relayed it to first to retire Nettles by a step and end the inning. J.D. Martin turned in 1.1 innings of scoreless relief, and Randy Newsom then struck out the side in the ninth to polish off the victory.

Huff (5-1) earned the win, tossing 6.2 innings and allowing just one run on four scattered hits while striking out seven. Craig Anderson (0-1) took the loss, going five innings and allowing just the three hits and three runs in the first inning. Newsom’s save was his league-leading 16th of the season. At one point, Bowie retired 19 straight Aeros hitters, beginning with the final out in the first. Akron had just the one hit in its last 25 at-bats. Whitney went 1-3 with two RBI and Sardinha collected his fifth RBI in five games with the Aeros. Chris Gimenez went 0-2 but did draw a pair of walks, his league-leading 38th and 39th free passes of the season.

The Aeros complete their brief three-game homestand Sunday at 2:05 p.m. at Canal Park. Akron left-hander Chuck Lofgren (1-3, 5.94 ERA) will face off against Bowie’s Brad Bergesen (5-1, 2.56 ERA). The first 2,000 fans will receive a free Aeros logo baseball courtesy of BPI Information Systems, and Sunday is also Family Fun Day with four tickets, four hot dogs, four bags of chips, and four sodas for $48. The game broadcast begins at 1:50 p.m. on SportsRadio 1350 AM and online at www.akronaeros.com.

Kinston Postponed

Tonight’s 6:35 game against Potomac has been postponed due to rain, it will be made up as part of a doubleheader tomorrow, Sunday, starting at 1:05.

CAPTAINS DROP THRE OF FOUR TO LAKEWOOD

(Eastlake, OH) – The Lakewood BlueClaws took three out of four games against the Lake County Captains by beating the Captains 8-3 on Saturday at Classic Park. The Captains gave up thirty two runs in the four games series on forty six hits. The Captains lead in the Northern Division is down to 2.5 games over Delmarva where the Captains head next.

The BlueClaws drew first blood in the top of the second inning against Captain’s starter Ryan Morris. Michael Taylor and Karl Bolt had back to back singles and Taylor scored on a single by Freddy Galvis to make it 1-0. The Captains came right back in the bottom of the inning against Claws starter Chance Chapman when Dustin Realini singled to extend his on base streak to twenty one games. Three batters later with Realini at second Jeff Hehr doubled to score Realini and it was tied 1-1.

The BlueClaws scored twice in the fifth inning off of Morris. Joel Naughton walked and two batters later scored on an RBI double by Dennis Winn. Winn scored when the next batter Dominic Brown singled to make it 3-1. The Captains cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning on a solo home run from Hehr, his second home run of the year. The BlueClaws got the run back in the top of the sixth inning off of reliever John Gaub on another RBI single by Galvis to extend the lead to 4-2. Roman Pena hit a solo homer for the Captains in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Captains trailed by one again at 4-3.

The BlueClaws added two more runs in the seventh when they loaded the bases with no outs against Gaub. He was replaced by Kyle Landis who walked Bolt and two batters later Galvis grounded out to score Brown and the BlueClaws led 6-3. The BlueClaws added a couple of runs in the ninth inning to finish the scoring at 8-3.

Morris went five innings and gave up three runs on five hits, walking three and striking out five to suffer his first loss of the year and drop his record to 6-1. Gaub went 1+ innings and gave up three runs. Landis pitched two scoreless innings and Gary Campfield and Kyle Landis pitched the ninth. Chance Chapman got the win to up his mark to 3-4.

The Captains begin a big seven game road trip on Monday at 7:05 PM against the second place Delmarva Shorebirds. The Captains will send RHP Chris Archer (1-6, 3.89) to the mound against the Shorebirds RHP Sean Gleason (2-4, 2.83). The game can be heard on AM 1330 WELW, WELW.COM or CAPTAINSBASEBALL.COM. After three games in Delmarva the Captains will play four games in Hagerstown starting Thursday.

Posted in: