Blue Crabs split series in New Britain

Nelson ties Atlantic League hits record in Game 1 of Sunday doubleheader

Fresh off winning two out of three games in Bridgeport last week, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs capped off their seven-game road trip in the state of Connecticut by splitting a four-game series in New Britain that concluded Sunday.

After Saturday’s contest was rained out, the two teams finished with a doubleheader Sunday. Southern Maryland picked up a 6-0 victory over the Bees in Game 1 behind a complete-game, three-hit shutout from starter Brian Grening and dropped Game 2 10-3 as starter Tim Sexton allowed nine runs and nine hits in three innings.

Southern Maryland (37-56 overall, 11-13 second half), which was 3 1/2 games back of first-place Sugar Land in the Atlantic League’s Freedom Division when action resumed Tuesday after a league day off, dropped the series opener on Thursday, 11-3, but bounced back to win Friday, 8-2. Despite the series split, the Blue Crabs have collected three series wins since the all-star break.

“We’ve been building some momentum since the all-star break and gained some confidence this road trip,” Blue Crabs manager Jeremy Owens said. “We beat Bridgeport to start the road trip and played tough in New Britain. We are hitting the ball right now and as long as we are finding the strike zone and playing error-free baseball we will be fine in the second half.”

The weekend’s big story was Blue Crabs third baseman Bryant Nelson closing in on league history. In Game 1, Nelson was 2 for 3 with two singles, a walk and an RBI to tie Somerset’s Jeff

Nettles Atlantic League all-time hits record at 1,052.

Nelson, who elected to sit out Game 2, needed just one hit to become the all-time leader when he and the Blue Crabs played Tuesday in the first of a three-game home series versus Lancaster. Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 11:05 a.m. Wednesday at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf.

“Tying the record was really cool and something I never thought about until this season,” Nelson said. “I had asked J.O. [Owens] earlier in the road trip if he was going to give me a day off. Once I got the hits to tie the record in the first game, we both thought it would be a great way to say thank you to the home fans that have supported me since joining the team last season.”

Owens added, “Bryant wanted to break the record in front of the home crowd and in the second game we wanted to rest him.”

Leading 1-0 in Game 1, D’Arby Myers, who finished 2 for 3 in the game, hit a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the fifth to push the lead to three runs.

Southern Maryland padded the lead in the seventh with two more runs, highlighted by Nelson’s RBI single, which gave him a tie for the record, and an RBI groundout by Michael Snyder, who also had an RBI single in the first.

Grening went the distance to improve his record to 6-4, surrendering just three hits with six strikeouts and no walks in the shutout.

“Felt good to secure a win in the first game,” Grening said. “I moved the ball in and out and threw in off-speed to keep hitters off balance. When you have a catcher like [Gustavo] Molina all you have to do is get the sign and execute the pitch.”

In Game 2, New Britain (4549, 9-15, sitting in last place in Liberty Division, five games behind Long Island) came out swinging with 14 hits, scoring five runs in the first and nine over the first three innings.

All three runs for the Blue Crabs were scored in the seventh and final inning on backto-back homers, a two-run bomb by Angel Flores and a solo shot by Gary Brown. Atlantic League doubleheaders are two seven-inning regulation contests.

Bees starter Nate Roe picked up his first win of the season, going 6 1/3 innings, allowing two earned runs with two strikeouts and one walk.

Sexton struggled as he faced 18 batters in giving up nine runs on nine hits in three innings.

Friday, Molina registered six RBIs, a season-high for any player on the team as he hit two three-run homers, the first coming in the fourth to spark the scoring and second in the eighth to put the game away.

Blue Crabs starter Daryl Thompson, a 2003 La Plata High School graduate, picked up the win to go to 4-6 on the season. Thompson tossed seven innings with six strikeouts, giving up just two runs on eight hits and did not walk a batter.

Thursday, first baseman Jon Griffin homered twice and drove in six runs to lead New Britain to the win. The Bees collected a five-run inning in the first and never looked back. Zach Wilson led off the ninth with a homer for the Blue Crabs, who had just six hits, three of which were for extra bases.

Blue Crabs starter Gaby Hernandez took the loss, giving up eight runs, six earned, on seven hits with five strikeouts in five innings.