Blue Crabs split with Bridgeport
Win just two on seven-game road trip
Up two games to one in a fourgame series versus Bridgeport, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs were just one win away from closing the series out on a winning note.
However on Memorial Day Monday, the Bluefish responded with 7-3 victory over the Blue Crabs at The Ballpark at Harbor Yard in Connecticut to cap off the series with the split.
Southern Maryland (13-24 overall), last place in the Freedom Division and 9 1/2 games behind first-place York, won the series opener on Friday 8-5 and followed things up with an 11-9 win on Saturday.
Behind guest manager Jennie Finch, the Olympic gold medalist and national champion in softball, Bridgeport (13-24), last place in the Liberty Division, won 3-1 on Sunday.
The Blue Crabs, who finished just 2-5 on their seven-game road trip that bega in York, returned home for the first of a three-game series with Somerset on Tuesday night. Game 2 is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Wednesday and the series ends with a 12:05 p.m. start Thursday.
Monday, Bridgeport picked up a 4-1 lead in the third, with all four runs scoring off of two Blue Crabs errors. Then leading 4-2 in the sixth, Jose Cuevas helped put the game away with a three-run home run.
Bridgeport starter Blake Beaven picked up the win in his first start of the season, going five innings with four strikeouts, allowing just one earned run on five hits with one walk.
Blue Crabs starter Jon Leicester got the loss, going 5 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs, three earned, on five hits with four strikeouts. The Blue Crabs had 11 hits in the game with four players having two each.
With Finch in the dugout Sunday, the Bluefish pitching staff held the Blue Crabs to just seven hits as starter Mike Antonini went six innings, allowing just one run on four hits with four strikeouts. Eric Niesen picked up the save in the win.
The lone Blue Crabs run came on a home run by Angel Flores to lead off the fifth and tie the game at 1 at the point. Gaby Hernandez took the loss and fell to 0-4 on the season, giving up three runs, two earned, on seven hits in six innings.
Over the final two games of the series, the Blue Crabs left a combined 19 runners in scoring position.
On Saturday, Southern Maryland delivered a season-high 18 hits en route to the win. Trailed 9-8 in the top of the eighth, Jamar Walton hit a two-out, three-run home run to lift the Blue Crabs to the win.
The Blue Crabs had three homers in the game, the other two from D’Arby Myers and Michael Snyder. Walton finished 3 for 5 at the plate for four RBIs. Bryant Nelson, Angel Flores and Zach Wilson each added three hits in the game.
Blue Crabs starter Daryl Thompson, a 2003 La Plata High School graduate from La Plata, pitched to a no-decision, allowing six runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. Brian Grening got the win, his first of the season, pitching 1 1/3 innings of scoreless ball. Cody Eppley got the save, striking York Sugar Land Lancaster Blue Crabs Long Island Somerset New Britain Bridgeport
out two batters in 1 1/3 innings.
After being swept in a threegame series at York on Thursday, losing 5-3 after having leads of 2-0 and 5-3, the Blue Crabs snapped their four-game losing streak with Friday’s win.
Southern Maryland led 5-1 after six innings, four of the runs coming on three consecutive two-out RBI hits in the second, but Bridgeport came to within 7-5 in the bottom of the eighth. The Blue Crabs added one more run in the ninth off a Bluefish error to secure the win.
Blue Crabs catcher Gustavo Molina finished with two hits and two RBIs, while third baseman Eric Garcia also had two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored. Snyder also added a home run in the game.
Brian Burres got the win on the mound for Southern Maryland, going 7 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts while allowing five runs, four earned, on six hits. Burres held the Bluefish scoreless from the second through sixth. Eppley picked up the save.