Richmond Flying Squirrels drop opener to Bowie, 5-1

The Bowie Baysox (19-18) grabbed the opener of a four-game series from the Richmond Flying Squirrels (20-16), 5-1, on Tuesday night at The Diamond.

Richmond righty Clayton Blackburn and Bowie lefty Tim Berry dueled in the early going, each turning in four scoreless innings.  Blackburn was aided with a double-play turned behind him in each of the first four innings.

The Baysox did eventually break through first in the fifth inning.  With one away, Michael Ohlman doubled to right field.  Garabez Rosa followed with a double to left-center field to plate Ohlman for a 1-0 Bowie lead.

The Squirrels used a pair of soft-singles to strike back in the bottom of the fifth against Berry.  With one out, Devin Harris muscled a single into right-center field.  Eliezer Zambrano followed and flared a single into right field to put runners at the corners.  Kelby Tomlinson followed and lifted a sacrifice-fly to left field to tie the game, 1-1.

Bowie hurriedly reclaimed the lead against Blackburn in the sixth inning as Christian Walker singled with one out in the inning.  Dariel Alvarez followed with a single to put two aboard and Chih-Hsien forced Alvarez to put runners at the corners.  David Adams and Ohlman then recorded back-to-back run-scoring singles to give the Baysox a 3-1 lead.

Blackburn (2-4) retired to the loss after six innings.  He surrendered three earned runs on 10 hits, walked one, hit one and struck out two.

Berry (2-1) faced no additional adversity as he cruised through seven four-hit innings.  He conceded just the lone run, walked one and struck out five.  He earned his second victory.

The Baysox capped the scoring for the evening with two unearned runs against lefty Phil McCormick in the top of the ninth inning.  Right-handers Jose Casilla and Cody Hall had turned in two perfect innings of relief prior to the ninth.

Right-hander Marcel Prado worked two scoreless innings out of the bullpen to finish the win for the Baysox.

Games two and three of the four-game series will be contested as part of a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 5:35 p.m. on Wednesday night at The Diamond.  Richmond LHP Adalberto Mejia (1-2, 5.22) will start game one against Bowie RHP Matt Bischoff (1-2, 3.77).  Squirrels’ RHP Austin Fleet will make the start in game two against a yet to be determined starter for the Baysox.  The Flying Squirrels Pregame Warmup begins at 5:05 p.m. on Sports Radio 910 and SportsRadio910.com.