Blue Crabs take three of four versus York
Rally from 6-1 deficit to win finale, split Saturday doubleheader on walk-off single
The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs had recorded four errors in the first five innings of Sunday afternoon’s contest versus the York Revolution.
Those four miscues spotted York a 6-1 lead in the finale of the four-game, three-day series. Four errors usually spell doom for the team trailing, but not on this day and not to these Blue Crabs.
Southern Maryland showed no quit, scoring four runs in the sixth and batted around in the seventh to tally six more en route to an 11-6 win on a sunny, hot Father’s Day at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf.
Cory Vaughn’s three-run home run way over the left-field wall capped the four-run sixth and started the comeback.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” said Vaughn, who was 2 for 3 with four RBIs. “We really pulled together as a group and got the ‘W,’ especially on a hot day like this and after a doubleheader yesterday, it was kind of a long day, so we rallied up and just supported each other.”
The first six Southern Maryland batters reached to begin the seventh and each of them scored as the win allowed the
Blue Crabs to take three of four in the series.
“We started off a little shaky, but then we rebounded,” said designated hitter Jon Griffin, who was a perfect 3 for 3 on the day with a home run, walk and three runs scored. “Offense came through, bullpen came through and we pulled it off. A pretty good win.”
Daryl Thompson, a 2003 La Plata High School graduate, and two relievers combined on a four-hit shutout Friday night in the series opener as the hosts won 5-0. Saturday, the teams played a doubleheader with York winning the opener 2-0 and Southern Maryland grabbing the nightcap on a Francisco Rosario walk-off single, 4-3.
Southern Maryland (19-27 overall, 12 games behind Lancaster in the Freedom Division’s first-half standings as of Monday) was off on Monday and began a seven-game, sixday road trip on Tuesday in New Britain. The series with the Bees continues with a doubleheader tonight.
“We just always know that we can go out there at any given time and rally up and band together as a group and try to make stuff happen,” Vaughn said. “Beginning of the year, we took our lumps on the chin, things just didn’t fall for us at times and now we’re starting to get on a little roll and really rallying behind every single person and we’re just kind of feeding off everybody’s energy.”
The Blue Crabs trailed 2-0 until Griffin smacked a solo homer in the fourth. Then, the team’s fourth error in five innings sparked a four-run fifth for York with starter Drake Britton not able to get through the inning. Britton lasted 4 2/3 innings, allowing six runs (2 earned) on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
“I thought Drake actually threw the ball really well. We just made some untimely mistakes behind him,” Blue Crabs manager James Frisbie said. “We’re first in the league in fielding percentage (.979 prior to Sunday’s game) and we just really didn’t help him out the first four innings. But I thought he gave us a chance and kept us in the game.”
Trailing 6-1, the Blue Crabs loaded the bases with one out in the sixth. With Vaughn batting, Frank Martinez scored on a wild pitch. Vaughn then connected with his three-run blast to make it 6-5.
In the seventh, Ryan Strausborger led off with a single and scored on Martinez’s RBI double down the left-field line to tie the game at 6.
Next, play was halted with Griffin at the plate when home plate umpire Silvio Martinez was injured on a pitch that hit his mask. After being down on the ground for a period of time, Martinez got up and was removed from the game with first-base umpire Tim Detweiler assuming the duties behind the plate.
The halt in play did not halt
the Blue Crabs’ momentum. Angelo Songco’s bases-loaded, two-run single gave the hosts their first lead of the game at 8-6. They added three more runs with Vaughn’s sacrifice fly scoring Devon Rodriguez to cap an inning that saw Southern Maryland bat around and plate six runs on five hits.
Shane Watson picked up the win after pitching a scoreless seventh.
Saturday, the teams played a doubleheader to make up a May 31 postponement in York with the teams not scheduled to play again in Pennsylvania during the first half.
Game 1 featured a pitchers’ duel between Southern Maryland’s Brandon Cumpton and York’s Joe Van Meter. They allowed just three hits combined over the first six innings.
In the seventh, which is the final regulation inning in doubleheaders, York scored the only two runs and took the opener.
Game 2 saw Blue Crabs starter Alex White, making his debut, retire the first seven York hitters he faced but left in the third trailing 1-0.
Southern Maryland tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on a Rosario RBI groundout, but York quickly retook the lead with two runs in the fifth.
The Blue Crabs tied the game at 3 in the sixth on Vaughn’s RBI single and a Martinez RBI groundout.
In the ninth, Rosario singled to left-center off former Blue Crabs pitcher Robert Carson that scored Songco to give Southern Maryland the Game 2 win.
“There was a lot of scenarios that really entered into that game. There were chances for both teams to win and lose,” Frisbie said on Sunday. “Just a lot of aggressive plays, but Rosario got the big hit for us last night and he’s a new guy for us and we’re happy to have him. It’s been a weird 24 hours.”
Friday, the Blue Crabs got out to a 4-0 lead through two innings and that was more than enough with Thompson not giving York much. The right-hander allowed no runs on two hits with four walks and five strikeouts. Sam Runion and Jason Creasy pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively, to finish the shutout.
Thursday, Southern Maryland finished a road series in Long Island by taking the finale in 11 innings, 5-4.
The Blue Crabs allowed two runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to put the game in extra innings. Griffin, pinch-hitting for Rosario, singled in Vaughn in the 11th for the eventual game-winning run.
“There’s no quit really in this team and we just got to keep playing our game,” Griffin said Sunday.