Home Bats wake up for Richmond in big win at Somerset
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Bats wake up for Richmond in big win at Somerset

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Richmond Flying SquirrelsWith two home runs and a six-run seventh inning, the Richmond Flying Squirrels propelled past the Somerset Patriots with a 14-5 victory on Saturday night at TD Bank Ballpark.

Richmond (22-19) scored a season-high 14 runs and had their largest margin of victory this year in their first win of the series against Somerset (26-14). Eight of the nine batters in the lineup for the Flying Squirrels collected at least one RBI.

Richmond poured on six runs in the seventh inning. Tostado muscled an RBI single to start the scoring, Heyward reached on a fielder’s choice that scored a run, two runs scored when Andy Sugilio reached on a fielding error and RBIs from Kyle Mottice and Heliot Ramos launched the Flying Squirrels to a sizeable 14-3 lead.

The Flying Squirrels took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. David Villar lined an RBI single into center field. Bruce Maxwell drove in a run with a single. Andres Angulo bounced an RBI groundout to cap the scoring.

The Patriots responded in the first with back-to-back home runs from Luke Voit and Oswald Peraza, cutting the deficit to 3-2.

Richmond tacked on to their lead in the third inning with an RBI single from Frankie Tostado and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jacob Heyward to put the Flying Squirrels ahead, 5-2. Tostado has hit four RBIs in the series.

Villar boosted the lead to 7-2 for the Flying Squirrels with a two-run homer to center field in the fourth inning. Villar now leads Richmond with seven home runs on the season.

Heyward blasted a solo home run in the fifth inning, his fifth of the year, to extend the Richmond advantage to 8-2.

Somerset added a run in the fifth inning off a fielding error from Heyward in left field that scored Peraza and made it 8-3.

After the six-run seventh from Richmond, the Patriots clawed back with two runs in the bottom of the ninth off a solo home run from Jason Lopez and Aaron Palensky’s RBI triple, chipping the score to 14-5.

Flying Squirrels starter Akeel Morris (Win, 1-0) pitched 5.0 innings, allowing four hits, three runs (two earned) and two walks with seven strikeouts in his first career Double-A start.

In his Double-A debut, Hayden Wesneski (Loss, 0-1) allowed seven runs (six earned) and seven hits over 4.0 innings.

The series finale is Sunday afternoon between the Flying Squirrels and Patriots with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Right-hander Glenn Otto (3-0, 1.35) is expected to start for Somerset opposed by left-hander Michael Plassmeyer (2-2, 4.89) for Richmond.

The Flying Squirrels are back at The Diamond for a six-game series against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies from June 29-July 4. On June 29, the Flying Squirrels honor the 35th anniversary of the Richmond Braves winning the 1986 International League title with the Governor’s Cup Celebration at The Diamond. The first 1,000 fans 15 and older can receive a t-shirt featuring the classic logo for The Diamond presented by Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods. Gates open at 5:30 with a 6:35 p.m. first pitch.

Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-3866 or in person at the Flying Squirrels offices.

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