Baysox roll past Flying Squirrels in series opener

After taking an early lead, the Richmond Flying Squirrels surrendered nine straight runs in a 9-4 loss to the Bowie Baysox on Tuesday night.

Bowie (31-21) hit three straight homers to pull away from Richmond (29-26) and claim the series opener, snapping the Flying Squirrels’ three-game winning streak.

The Flying Squirrels came out hammering in the second inning, launching two home runs to capture a 3-0 lead. After a leadoff hit from Diego Rincones, Frankie Tostado blasted a two-run homer to right field. Vince Fernandez followed up with a solo home run with two outs.

Bowie answered back to even the score, 3-3, in the bottom of the second. Doran Turchin lifted a two-run home run and Adley Rutschman added an RBI double.

The Baysox grabbed the lead, 4-3, in the third inning off a solo home run from Robert Neustrom against Richmond starter Trenton Toplikar (Loss, 1-5). After Toplikar allowed back-to-back baserunners with no outs, Matt Seelinger set down three consecutive batters with two strikeouts to get out of the jam.

Bowie added tacked on two in the fourth to make it 6-3 when Neustrom bounced into a fielder’s choice, but a throwing error brought home Cadyn Grenier and Rutschman.

With Raffi Vizcaíno on the mound for Richmond, Johnny Rizer sent a solo home run to widen the advantage for Bowie to 7-3 in the fifth inning.

The Baysox stretched the score to 8-3 in the sixth off an RBI single from Kyle Stowers off Flying Squirrels’ reliever Patrick Ruotolo. Stowers had a 3-for-3 performance and was one of two Bowie batters with multiple hits.

Richmond inched closer in the ninth off an RBI groundout from Fernandez that brought home David Villar and brought the score to 9-4.

Toplikar pitched 2.0 total innings, allowing four runs off five hits and three walks.

Richmond used five pitchers, who each allowed at least one run, in the contest and allowed nine combined walks.

Bowie starter Cody Sedlock (Win, 2-1) worked 5.0 innings with three runs and six hits allowed while accumulating seven strikeouts.

The Flying Squirrels continue the series against the Baysox Wednesday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Richmond has not yet announced their starter as Bowie will send out right-hander Kyle Brnovich (0-0, 5.14).

The Flying Squirrels return home for a six-game series against the Somerset Patriots, Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, from July 13-18. Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-3866 or in person at the Flying Squirrels offices.