Salem Red Sox to host tryouts
The Salem Red Sox, Advanced Class-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, will be hosting Under Armour® Baseball Factory National Tryouts on Sunday, September 25 at 1PM at LewisGale Field.
Local area high school players can take part in an on-field professional workout and will be evaluated by Baseball Factory scouts on their speed, pitching, hitting, and defense. Each participating player will receive a full verbal evaluation from Baseball Factory within 72 hours of the workout including a national comparison to other high school baseball players. The workouts will also include a College Recruiting Seminar for both players and parents. Top players may be invited to compete on an Under Armour® Baseball Factory National Team or at an Under Armour® Baseball Factory National Training Camp. Baseball Factory also selects players for the annual Under Armour® All-America Baseball Game held at Wrigley Field, featuring the top 36 high school players in the nation.
“We’ve seen a lot of talent come through Salem,” said Salem Red Sox General Manager Todd Stephenson. “Some of our best players over the last couple of seasons are products of the Baseball Factory.”
Baseball Factory has produced a great deal of notable alumni including Salem Red Sox pitchers Casey Kelly (2009), Robert Coello (2009), Chad Povich (2009), Chris Hernandez (2011), Pete Ruiz (2011), outfielders Bryce Brentz (2011) and Shannon Wilkerson (2011), catcher Dan Butler (2011) and first baseman Anthony Rizzo (2010). One in every four Baseball Factory alumni plays in the College World Series, one in five players have been drafted by a Major League team, and one in ten players are currently on Major League Rosters.
The Under Armour® Baseball Factory National Tryout is $99 per player and includes professional workout, scouting report, and college recruiting seminar. Players can register for the tryout by calling the Baseball Factory at 800.641.4487 ext. 101 or online at
Salem finishes season on streak
Peter Hissey’s first professional grand slam and Matt Spring’s three-run blast highlighted a seven-run fourth inning that propelled the Salem Sox to a 10-3 victory over Myrtle Beach on the final day of the 2011 regular season. Stolmy Pimentel earned his sixth victory, holding Myrtle Beach to two runs on two hits in seven strong innings. Salem finished with a record of 64-75, 33-37 in the second half, and won four in a row and five of the last six to complete the slate.
Salem opened up a 3-0 lead in the top of the second on Monday night, utilizing two singles and three walks to score three times. Josue Peley drilled the first of his two hits to drive in the first run, and the Sox scored twice more on a wild pitch and a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded.
Two innings later, the Red Sox loaded the bases again via Peley’s double, Zach Gentile’s strikeout wild pitch, and Drew Dominguez’ hit-by-pitch. With one out, Hissey lifted a deep fly down the left-field line that snuck over the fence and inside the foul pole for a grand slam. The four-run shot was Hissey’s second homer of the season, both of which came against the Pelicans. In fact, all three of Hissey’s professional home runs have been belted against Myrtle Beach.
The slam made it 7-0, but the Sox were not done in the fourth. Heiker Meneses reached on Leury Garcia’s fielding error, Bryce Brentz singled Meneses to third, and then Matt Spring clobbered his second homer in as many days to shoot Salem to a 10-0 edge. Spring’s seventh Carolina League dinger gave the Sox a comfortable cushion for the pitcher’s to embrace.
Pimentel peppered the strike zone, surrendering back-to-back hits in the fourth inning but none others. Garcia doubled to lead off the fourth and Jared Prince smothered a two-run homer to make it 10-2, but Pimentel set down 11 of the next 13, hitting two batters who never passed first base. The Dominican righthander improved to 6-4 and lowered his Carolina League ERA to 4.53.
In relief, Manny Rivera permitted one run on two innings, striking out a pair in his perfect ninth to end the season. Myrtle Beach used seven different pitchers in their final game before the postseason, with Kasey Kiker suffering the loss, allowing three runs in a third of a frame on the mound.
Every member of Salem’s lineup reached base and scored a run, with Spring and Peley registering multi-hit evenings to complete the campaign. The two home runs gave Salem 93 round-trippers for the season, the most for any Salem Sox squad since the Red Sox returned to the Roanoke Valley in 2009.
Sox rock Dash
The Salem Sox followed their two-day hiatus by erupting for a season-high 19 hits in a 16-10 victory over Winston-Salem on Wednesday evening to begin the final road trip of 2011 with a bang. At one point, the Red Sox rolled off 14 consecutive runs, erasing a 7-1 second-inning deficit with a five-run third, a three-run fifth, and a four-run sixth. Salem added two more runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth to match their season high in runs scored. Four different Red Sox registered three-hit nights, led by the #9 hitter Zach Gentile, who went 3-4 with a season-high five RBI from the bottom of the lineup. Matt Spring, just back with Salem after spending time with Triple-A Pawtucket, delivered two doubles and a solo homer, driving in three runs in the ballgame.
A 1-1 draw after one inning was abruptly broken by Winston’s six-run bottom of the second. Both Mike Blanke and Ian Gac belted homers against Salem starter Stolmy Pimentel, and the Dash appeared en route to the rout. But Pimentel settled down and retired 11 of the next 12 he faced to give the Sox sticks a chance to respond. His shutdown performance in the middle innings was the unsung hero for Salem’s offensive onslaught.
In the top of the third, six of the first seven batters mustered base hits against Winston starter Jake Petricka, who was chased from the contest with two outs in the third. Four different Red Sox drove in runs in the five-run frame that inched Salem back within a run at 7-6.
With the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, Gentile slammed a hard ground ball inside the first base bag and into the left field corner, clearing the bases to surge Salem into the lead at 9-7. In the sixth, Spring and Miles Head each launched solo homers off Dash reliever Santos Rodriguez to make it 11-7. Later in the inning, two walks and a hit-batter loaded the bases, and Heiker Meneses singled home two more to give Salem a 13-7 edge. Peter Hissey contributed an RBI single in the eighth, and Gentile drove in his fifth run two batters later, surging Salem to its largest lead of 15-7.
Blanke belted his second homer of the night for the Dash in the ninth, a two-run bomb off reliever Manny Rivera, but Salem’s 16-10 advantage stood when the final out was recorded two batters later. Rivera dealt the final three and a third innings to earn his second save, while Pimentel picked up the victory, improving to 5-4 with five and two-thirds innings, allowing seven runs on ten hits.
Offensively, Gentile, Spring, Padron, and Head each connected for three hits, while Meneses, Hissey and Bryce Brentz added two apiece. Salem finished 9-for-20 with runners in scoring position, while Winston went 3-for-11.
Salem hopes to build upon their scintillating offensive performance as the series continues on Thursday night. Ryan Pressly will square off again Ryan Buch, with the first pitch slated for 7 PM.
Hillcats lose tempers, game
A collision at the plate and a retaliation hit-by-pitch caused the benches to clear in the fifth inning of a two-run ballgame Tuesday night. Three Hillcats were ejected after the altercation. Lynchburg came back to tie the game but fell 5-4 to the Potomac Nationals in 10 innings.
Each team scored in the first inning. Destin Hood hit a two-out solo home run in the top of the inning to give the Nationals the lead. The Hillcats responded by manufacturing a run. Todd Cunningham walked to lead off the inning. Lynchburg executed a perfect hit-and-run, with Andrelton Simmons singling out to right, sending Cunningham to third. Christian Bethancourt followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one.
The Hillcats took advantage of a Potomac error in the third to take the lead. With Cunningham on second and one out, Bethancourt hit a grounder back to the pitcher, Evan Bronson. Bronson made a low throw to first, that rolled all the way to the Potomac bullpen. Cunningham came in to score and the Hillcats took a 2-1 lead.
The Nationals tied the game on in the fourth inning. With Zach Walters on first and Steven Souza on third, Chris Masters threw a pitch that hit the dirt. The ball skipped slightly away from Bethancourt, and Walters started to head towards second. Bethancourt quickly got to the ball and threw down to second, Walters stopped and Souza took off from third. The throw came back to the plate, and when Souza got there, he leveled Bethancourt, knocking him off his feet and knocking the ball out of his glove. Souza scored and Bethancourt, who didn’t move for nearly a minute, had to leave the game.
The game got wild in the fifth inning. The Nationals scored two runs to take a 4-2 lead, but the story was the action in between plays. Early in the inning, catcher Shawn McGill, who entered the game for Bethancourt, was hit in the head on an accidental backswing by hitter Francisco Soriano. McGill had to leave the game and the third catcher of game, Ryan Query had to come in.
Souza came to the plate with a runner on after the two runs came in. Masters threw a fastball that hit him, and Souza took a step towards Masters and said something. Masters started yelling back, walking off the mound towards the plate, and the benches and bullpens cleared. No punches were thrown, but several players had to be physically restrained. When players were finally separated, both Masters and Hillcats reliever Eliecer Cardenas were ejected from the game, and no Nationals players were ejected. After a long delay where all three Lynchburg coaches were arguing, reliever Ryan Buchter sprinted down from the bullpen and got in the face of home plate umpire John Bacon, and was ejected as well.
Despite the altercation, there was still a game to be played, and the Hillcats cut into the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Andrelton Simmons doubled, and then stole third. Query, making his first at-bat of the game, hit a sacrifice fly to center to cut the lead to 4-3.
Query again came through in the bottom of the seventh. He singled home Marcus Lemon to tie the game at four.
Both teams squandered chances until the top of the tenth, when Zach Walters singled home Brian Peacock, giving the Nationals a 5-4 lead. Hector Nelo came in to hold the Hillcats scoreless in the tenth, picking up his 18th save of the season and preserving the win for the Nationals.
Joe Testa (6-2) earned the win in relief for Potomac and Andrew Wilson (2-4) took the loss for Lynchburg.
The Hillcats fell to 28-34 in the second half. Potomac improved to 35-28 and their magic number to clinch a playoff birth dropped to one.
The series between these two teams continues Wednesday night. David Hale (3-6) will pitch for the Hillcats and Paul Demny (9-10) will pitch for the Nationals. First pitch is at 7:05 pm and the gates will open at 6.
The Hillcats On-Deck Show presented by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg will go on the air at 6:40 pm. Tune in to 105.5 KD Country or go to lynchburg-hillcats.com to listen live to all the action.
Salem drops home finale
A manufactured run in the top of the ninth inning fractured a 4-4 tie, surging the Blue Rocks into a lead that they would not relinquish in the final game of the season at LewisGale Field. Wilmington’s 5-4 victory was a byproduct of opportunistic baserunning and opposition miscues, as the Sox made three errors, including one pivotal one in the decisive ninth. Whit Merrifield drew a one-out walk from Jeremiah Bayer and advanced to second after an errant pick-off attempt skipped past first. Two wild pitches later, Merrifield touched home plate to put the Blue Rocks on top.
With the score even at two through six innings, both teams plated a pair in a wild and scary seventh, in which Salem right fielder Bryce Brentz was carted off the field after backing into the wall in pursuit of a fly ball. With Merrifield at first, Carlo Testa’s deep drive to right pushed Brentz to the track. The ball bounced off Brentz’ glove and rolled into the right-field corner, while Brentz drilled the wall, fell down, and laid motionless on the ground. Both Merrifield and Testa rounded the bases, providing Testa with an inside-the-park two-run homer. Meanwhile, Brentz remained on the ground as Salem Athletic Trainer Brandon Henry charged onto the field.
Brentz sat up, stood up on his own, and took a few steps to a cart that helped him off the field. Brentz said that he felt a very sharp pain in his back when it happened, but he appeared to be alright after the game, walking around the clubhouse with his teammates.
In the last of the seventh, Salem rallied to even the score, with Heiker Meneses bringing the spark with a one-out single, his third hit of the ballgame. Zach Gentile singled Meneses to third, and the incoming throw bounced away, allowing Meneses to score. Later in the frame, Miles Head smashed a single to center to score Gentile and tie the game at four.
Both teams made three errors, leading to four unearned runs in the ballgame, three of which were scored by Wilmington. All three Salem errors were charged to the pitchers. Starter Anthony Ranaudo made two errors, one fielding and one on an errant pick-off attempt, while Bayer’s miscue in the ninth also cost the Sox dearly.
Salem also lost third-baseman Kolbrin Vitek early in the game. Vitek aggravated an oblique injury and departed in the middle of his second at-bat. Gentile took over for Vitek with a 1-1 count in the third inning, and Gentile flew to left to end that frame.
Ranaudo dealt four innings, allowing two runs (both unearned) on three hits, while striking out six and walking four. He received a no-decision, and it was Bayer who was saddled with the setback, falling to 7-3.
The Salem Sox will take two days off before returning to the diamond on Wednesday in Winston-Salem for the final six-game road trip of the season.
Salem prevails in extras
Jorge Padron delivered a two-out, two-strike game-tying double in the bottom of the ninth, and Shannon Wilkerson’s sacrifice fly to left scored Heiker Meneses two innings later to give the Salem Sox a dramatic come-from-behind 10-9 triumph in 11 innings on Saturday night in front of 4,833 at LewisGale Field. After trailing 5-0 after three and a half, 8-6 after eight and a half, and 9-8 after ten and a half, the Sox scored two in the bottom of the 11th to send the near-capacity crowd home happy.
Scoreless through three innings, the action intensified in the fourth. Ryan Stovall and Carlo Testa each went deep off Drake Britton in a five run-frame, and the Rocks possessed a 5-0 lead. But Salem broke up Elisaul Pimentel’s shutout thanks to Meneses’ leadoff triple and an RBI single from Bryce Brentz in the bottom of the fourth. One inning later, Salem rallied for four runs to tie it up at five. Kolbrin Vitek connected for a clutch two-run single with the bases loaded, and Bryce Brentz’ slow roller to third was chucked down the right-field line, allowing two more runs to score.
In the last of the sixth, Peter Hissey drew a one-out walk, stole second, and trotted home on Josue Peley’s RBI single, surging the Sox to a 6-5 advantage. But the lead would only last until the eighth, when the Blue Rocks rallied for a pair against reliever Jordan Flasher. Travis Jones walked, moved to second on a passed ball, to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Michael Liberto’s clutch single. Two batters later, Liberto crossed on Testa’s RBI knock, boosting the Blue Rocks to a 7-6 edge.
Wilmington added one insurance run in the top of the ninth, with Nick Van Stratten scoring from second on Ryan Stovall’s fly to the warning track in right that dropped out of Brentz’ reach. In the bottom of the ninth, however, the Sox capitalized from the wildness of Blue Rocks reliever Gary Cuevas, utilizing two walks, three wild pitches, and Padron’s clutch double to score twice and send the action to extras.
After a scoreless tenth, the Blue Rocks connected for a pair of doubles from Van Stratten and Stovall to assume a 9-8 lead in the 11th, but the Red Sox rallied for a third time in the last of the frame. Derrik Gibson singled off Bryan Paukovits to start the inning, and Gibson scored all the way from first on Meneses’ sacrifice bunt that was chucked down right field line by Stovall. Meneses scooted all the way to third on the pivotal error, but remained there when Vitek grounded to short. Brentz received an intentional pass, and then Wilkerson, batting for the first time after entering as a pinch-runner in the ninth, lifted a high fly to moderate depth left field. Meneses tagged and sprinted home, beating the incoming throw from Testa, and the Sox stormed the field in celebration. One night after falling by a run with the final out being recorded at the plate, the Sox prevailed in a similar circumstance, with Meneses evading the tag as the ball skipped away from the catcher.
It was the first time all season that Salem won when trailing after eight innings. Previously, the Sox had been 0-62 in such precarious situations.
The Salem Sox wrap up their 2011 home schedule on Sunday afternoon with a 4:05 matinee against the Blue Rocks. Anthony Ranaudo is slated to take the mound for Salem opposite Wilmington’s Tyler Sample.
Jenks scheduled to rehab in Salem Saturday night
Boston’s Bobby Jenks is scheduled to make a rehab appearance for the Salem Red Sox at LewisGale Field on Saturday night. Jenks will likely start and throw one inning in Salem’s contest against the Wilmington Blue Rocks, a Kansas City Royals affiliate.
Jenks, 30, possesses 173 major league saves and a career ERA of 3.53 in seven major league seasons. A member of the Chicago White Sox from 2005-2010, Jenks signed with Boston as a free agent on December 21, 2010. The hard-throwing righthander won a World Series ring with the White Sox in 2005, saving two World Series victories over the Astros. He was named to the American League All-Star team in 2006 and 2007, finishing second in the AL in saves in both of those seasons.
With Boston in 2011, Jenks has gone 2-2 with a 6.32 ERA in 19 appearances. He has been on the disabled list since July 16 with back tightness.
Saturday night will be Jenks’ second appearance in the Carolina League. He made one rehab start for the Winston-Salem Warthogs in 2008, allowing one run on three hits in one inning for the White Sox affiliate on July 14, 2008.
Jenks will be the third major-league rehabber that Salem has had since 2009. Daisuke Matsuzaka and Junichi Tazawa are the other Boston hurlers who have spent some time with the Salem Sox.
Dash demolish SalemSox
The Dash offense erupted for runs in each of the first five innings, bombarding the Sox by two touchdowns in a 14-0 rout on Thursday night at LewisGale Field. Andy Wilkins smashed solo shots in the first and the ninth, while Nick Ciolli also clobbered two homers, a leadoff jack in the second and a two-run bomb in the fifth. Winston scored six times in the third to open an eight-run lead, took a 12-zip lead after five, and put the cherry on top of the blowout sundae with a two-run ninth recorded off Salem second-baseman Zach Gentile, who took the mound for the first time in his professional career to absorb the Dash’s final punches.
Jake Petricka dealt six scoreless innings for Winston, but the onslaught of offense overshadowed the superb pitching performance. The Dash capitalized on a shaky outing from Chris Hernandez, who departed after just two and a third innings in what was by far his shortest and poorest outing of his All-Star season. Out of the bullpen, Pete Ruiz also got drilled for six runs, although only two were charged as earned.
Hernandez retired the first two batters of the game before allowing the first Wilkins round-tripper of the night, a solo shot that gave that Dash a modest 1-0 lead. Following Petricka’s seven-pitch, perfect first, Nick Ciolli smashed an opposite-field jack to make it 2-0 to lead off the second. Winston loaded the bases on two walks and a single, but Hernandez induced a pop-up from Juan Silverio to avoid further damage in the second. It turns out he only delayed the inevitable.
After Wilkins’ screaming line-out to right field to begin the third, seven straight Dash batters reached, with six of them scoring. Four of the runs were charged to Hernandez, who was responsible for six runs (five earned) in his two and a third innings on the mound, while the others were accumulated off Ruiz. The Dash matched a season-high for hits in an inning with six, with Luis Sierra driving in two of his three RBI on the night in the frame.
The Dash added two more on a trio of doubles against Ruiz in the fourth, then received Ciolli’s two-run bomb in the fifth, surging the visitors to a dozen-run advantage. Petricka and Leroy Hunt, who went the final three innings to earn the save, ensured that the football score would stand as a shutout. Salem managed just five hits, with two coming from Jorge Padron.
In the top of the ninth, Gentile made his first appearance in a game since August 5. He walked Silverio on four pitches and fell behind Wilkins 2-0 before he finally threw a strike. Unfortunately, his first pitch in the zone landed approximately 400 foot away after Wilkins launched it deep beyond the right-field fence. After the homer, however, Gentile recorded three consecutive outs, inducing ground-outs from Ian Gac and Ciolli before Kevin Dubler popped to center.
The final homestand of the season continues on Friday with a quasi-doubleheader against Wilmington. The Red Sox and Blue Rocks will resume the suspended game from July 8, with the Rocks leading 2-0 in the second inning. Thirty minutes after its conclusion, another seven-inning tilt will commence.
Salem nips Winston Salem
Three early runs proved to be enough for a trio of Sox hurlers, who held the visitors from Winston to one hit in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position in Salem’s 3-2 Tuesday triumph at LewisGale Field. Heiker Meneses accumulated half of Salem’s six hits all by himself, while Anthony Ranaudo, T.J. Hose, and Will Latimer combined to hold the explosive Dash offense to just two runs.
The Sox struck in the first inning against Winston starter Cameron Bayne, with Meneses drilling a one-out single and Kolbrin Vitek drawing a walk to set the table for Bryce Brentz. Salem’s cleanup hitter smashed a hard liner into left-center for an RBI single that moved Vitek to third, and Jorge Padron’s chopper to short plated Vitek, giving Salem the 2-0 lead.
Salem starter Anthony Ranaudo escaped a bases-loaded, two-out threat in the top of the second, and the Sox manufactured a two-out tally in the bottom of the frame. Josue Peley worked a walk, stole second with Derrik Gibson in an 0-2 hole, and came around to score as Gibson completed his gritty at-bat with a line-drive single to center. Up 3-0, the Sox had an advantage that would not be relinquished.
Winston chipped away at the Salem lead with one run off Ranaudo in the top of the third. Tyler Saladino led off with a double and scored two batters later on Juan Silverio’s single. Ranaudo held the Dash down during the remainder of his four-inning stint, allowing one run on three hits and four walks while striking out six.
Reliever T.J. Hose earned the victory, allowing just a two-out, solo homer to Nick Ciolli in his three-inning stint. Will Latimer earned the save, retiring six of the seven men he faced in the eighth and ninth innings to preserve the triumph. Hose improved to 1-1, picking up his first Carolina League win, while Latimer grabbed his eighth save.
The win kept Salem within five and a half games of first-place Kinston, who beat Frederick 3-1 in Maryland on Tuesday night. The victory was also Salem’s eighth straight triumph over Winston-Salem, as the Dash have not beaten the Sox since July 2 in North Carolina.
The four-game set continues with the penultimate contest on Wednesday, as Manny Rivera makes his second Carolina League start for the Sox. Southpaw Joe Serafin will deal opposite Rivera, with the first pitch slated for 7:05.
Salem opens series at Winston-Salem with W
Two Tyler Saladino errors proved costly for the Dash, helping the Sox score three unearned runs in a 6-3 series-opening victory on Monday night at LewisGale Field. Salem trailed 3-1 after five, but rallied for three to take to the lead in the last of the sixth and added two more unearned insurance tallies in the last of the eighth. The triumph snapped Salem’s four-game losing skid and moved the Red Sox back within five and a half games of the division lead with 13 games to play in the regular season.
In the pivotal sixth inning, Dash starter Matt Wickswat walked Heiker Meneses and yielded back-to-back singles to Kolbrin Vitek and Bryce Brentz, with the latter driving in a run to slice a two-run deficit in half. Wickswat departed after striking out Jorge Padron for the first out, but both of Justin Cassel’s inherited runners scored on Peter Hissey’s two-out grounder up the middle. With the baserunners at second and third, Saladino scooped up Hissey’s roller but tossed errantly to first, allowing both Vitek and Brentz to score. Hissey was credited with a single and one RBI, with Brentz plated as a result of the throwing error.
In the eighth, Salem had runners at first and second when Saladino once again misplayed a Hissey grounder, bobbling a perfect double-play ball that could have ended the inning. Instead, the bases were loaded, and Salem added two crucial insurance runs on Shannon Wilkerson’s sac fly and Josue Peley’s RBI single off Cassel.
The eighth-inning pair helped Salem avoid a tense ninth inning with Jeremiah Bayer on the mound. Having retired 11 of the first 12 he faced in relief of Drake Britton, Bayer yielded a two-out triple to Saladino on a deep-drive that ticked off Hissey’s mitt near the warning track in straight-away center. Thanks to the insurance runs, Saladino’s presence at third was rendered significantly less important, and Bayer whiffed Jared Mitchell to finish the contest, improving to 7-2 with four scoreless frames out of the bullpen.
Salem’s early 1-0 lead, assumed when Vitek singled to drive in Wilkerson in the third, was quickly erased when Winston rallied for two runs in the fourth. Britton walked Juan Silverio to begin the frame and Ian Gac hammered a double down the left-field line, moving Silverio to third. The tying run scored on Mike Blanke’s RBI single, while the go-ahead run crossed on Kyle Colligan’s two-out, RBI single. The Dash added another against Britton with Gac driving in Saladino in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead, but Winston’s offense would go quiet the rest of the way.
Britton left with Salem trailing 3-1, but dodged his league-leading 14th loss because of Salem’s mighty comeback. Britton surrendered three runs on seven hits in five frames, striking out two and walking five.
Vitek and Peley each collected multiple hits for the Salem Sox, with Vitek collecting his 41st multi-hit night of the season. Brentz, Hissey, and Wilkerson joined the aforementioned multi-hit duo with one RBI apiece in the Red Sox win, Salem’s seventh straight over Winston-Salem dating back to July 3.
The Red Sox will go for their eighth in a row over the Dash on Tuesday evening at 7:05, with Anthony Ranaudo scheduled to tangle with Cameron Bayne.
Salem swept … again
Salem’s bats never found a groove and the Wilmington Blue Rocks made it four straight over the Sox by sweeping a twin-bill for the second straight day. The Blue Rocks overcame a 2-0 deficit to prevail 6-3 in the opener before blanking the Red Sox 4-zip in the finale. In between games, the tarp covered the field for a lengthy intermission, but following a two hour, 10 minute break, the second game commenced and went in Wilmington’s favor.
In game one, Bryce Brentz’s two-run double in the first inning against Justin Marks surged the Sox to their first lead of the series. But Wilmington scratched Ryan Pressly for four runs in the last of the second, connecting on five singles in addition to the one walk Pressly issued. With the game tied 2-2, Whit Merrifield and Carlo Testa delivered consecutive two-out RBI knocks to boost the Blue Rocks into the lead.
Pressly did not allow a hit in his scoreless third and fourth innings, but yielded consecutive singles to begin the fifth that knocked him out of the game. Both runners came around to score against reliever Jordan Flasher, giving Wilmington a 6-2 edge. Salem trimmed the deficit to three in the seventh as the first three batters in the inning reached against Gary Cuevas, but former Salem Sock Kendal Volz entered and recorded the final three outs to earn the save. The victory belonged to Allen Caldwell, who retired all six men he faced over two innings in relief of Marks.
In game two, both starters appeared locked in after the long break between games, with Elisaul Pimentel and Pete Ruiz both dealing two scoreless to start the contest. In the third, Salem mustered a pair of hits, but stranded the man at the corners. Meanwhile, Blue Rocks first-baseman Joey Lewis led off the last of the third with a line-drive home run to left, giving Wilmington the 1-0 edge.
Aside from the homer, Ruiz eased through the first four, retiring 12 of the 13 men he faced. In the bottom of the fifth, Yem Prades smoked a leadoff triple into the right-center field gap, coming across to score on the ensuing sac fly from Tim Ferguson to make the score 2-0. The Blue Rocks doubled their lead again in the last of the sixth, with John Whittleman drilling a bases-loaded double off reliever Will Latimer to take a 4-0 lead.
Salem’s offense mustered just four hits in the finale against Elisaul Pimentel (six innings) and Ryan Dennick (a 1-2-3 seventh), and the Sox scored just seven total runs in the four-game series, completed in less than 26 hours from 5 PM Saturday to 7 PM on Sunday. The pair of Sunday setbacks drop the Sox to 55-70 for the season, a low-water mark at 15 games below .500 with 14 games remaining in the season.
After registering a bunt single in the first game, Heiker Meneses went 0-3 in the nightcap, putting a halt to his 12-game hitting streak to begin his time with Salem. During the 12-game streak, Meneses hit .438 (21-for-48).
Salem returns to LewisGale Field on Monday for the final homestand of the regular season. The week-long slate begins with four games against Winston-Salem, commencing on Monday with Drake Britton facing Matt Wickswat at 7:05.
Salem drops two to Blue Rocks
The Blue Rocks jumped to 3-0 early leads in both games and hung on to prevail in a Saturday night pair at Frawley Stadium, downing the Salem Sox 3-2 in the opener and 6-2 in the nightcap. Bryce Brentz blasted his 29th homer of the season in the sixth inning of game two, his solo shot failed to provide the necessary firepower to overcome the early deficit.
In game one, Wilmington broke through with three runs in the last of the third against Salem starter Chris Hernandez. Michael Liberto’s RBI single drove home Jared Dyer, and two more runs scored on Carlo Testa’s single to right and the ensuing Brentz throwing error. Despite the error, all three runs were earned against Hernandez.
Salem plated a unearned run of its own in the top of the fifth, then made it 3-2 on Shannon Wilkerson’s RBI single in the sixth, but the Sox could not deliver the equalizer in the seventh. Michael Mariot tossed five innings to improve to 8-3, while Bryan Paukovitz dealt a scoreless seventh to earn his sixth save. Hernandez became the first Salem pitcher of the season to register a complete game, but unfortunately, his six-inning CG also coupled as his sixth loss, with the southpaw falling to 10-6.
In game two, the Blue Rocks three-run rally kicked off the ballgame, with three of the first four Rocks reaching against Stolmy Pimentel. John Whittleman’s two-run double gave Wilmington a 2-0 lead, and Whittleman crossed the plate on Yem Prades’ ground ball that Heiker Meneses overthrew to first.
Whittleman picked up his third RBI by belting a solo bomb to lead off the third, surging the Blue Rocks to a 4-0 edge and becoming just the third Blue Rock ever to record 20 homers in a season. The Red Sox responded in the top of the fourth, with Alex Valdez singling to drive in an unearned tally against Tim Melville. But the Blue Rocks reassumed their four-run edge in the bottom of the fourth, manufacturing a run following Deivy Batista’s single. He advanced to second on an error, moved to third on a strikeout throw to first, and then scurried home on a wild pitch, making it 5-1.
Brentz’ bomb off Melville brought the Sox within three, but Batista scored his second run of the game on Carlo Testa’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth. Up 6-2, Melville handed the baton to Dusty Odenbach, who pitched around a one-out walk in the seventh to preserve the victory.
Meneses led the Red Sox with three hits, connecting in both ballgames to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Valdez also chipped in three hits in the double-dip, while Wilkerson mustered two hits in game one but went hitless in the nightcap, snapping his streak at 10 games.
Sunday brings another doubleheader between Salem and Wilmington, with Ryan Pressly and Pete Ruiz scheduled to start for the Sox. The Blue Rocks will send Justin Marks and Elisaul Pimentel to the mound, with the first pitch of the day slated for 12:35.
