Squirrels outfielder Hunter Cole continued his torrid month of June with a pair of doubles to lead Richmond (28-49) over Akron (44-35), 6-3 on Tuesday at The Diamond.
Newcomer Brandon Bednar collected three of the Squirrels ten hits to provide enough offense for lefty Matt Gage. Gage worked through six innings and allowed just three runs on three hits in the victory. The win snapped a six-game skid for the Squirrels and pulled them even in the series.
Akron struck first on Tuesday with a pair of runs in the second inning off Richmond starter Matt Gage. Gage walked the first two batters of the second but then picked up a groundout and strikeout to nearly escape trouble. However, Gage could not get former UVA standout Mike Papi out as he doubled to left field for a 2-0 Akron advantage.
Richmond retaliated with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, 2-2. Tyler Horan opened the stanza with an opposite field, solo home run off of Akron starter Michael Peoples. Hunter Cole followed that with a double and scored on a sharp base hit off the bat of Brandon Bednar to square the game. Bednar collected three hits in just his fourth game at the Double-A level. Peoplesused 38 pitches through the first two innings and lasted five frames in theouting.
The Squirrels gathered the lead by producing three more runs off Peoples in the third inning. Christian Arroyo smacked his league-leading 22nd double of the season to start the inning and came around to score on Hunter Cole’s second double of the game. Ricky Oropesa then grounded home a run to give the Squirrels a 4-2 lead. Brandon Bednar followed with another RBI base hit, making the score 5-2 in the Squirrels’ favor.
Gage battled through the early innings and finished with six solid frames. The lefty departed with a 6-3 lead and allowed just three runs on three hits in his 13th start of the season. He also struck out a season-high tying eight batters.
Peoples was through after five innings and handed the ball to reliever Robbie Aviles to start the bottom of the sixth. Aviles promptly loaded the bases and yielded a sacrifice fly to Christian Arroyo for the sixth and final run of the game. Richmond relievers Christian Jones, Tyler Mizenko and Ray Black finished the game tosecure the win. Black punched out the side in the ninth to earn his sixth save of the year.
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Chris Graham
