A surge of runs backed a strong start by Kyle Harrison as the Richmond Flying Squirrels shut out the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, 9-0, Wednesday night at The Diamond.
The Flying Squirrels (53-56, 13-27) held the Rumble Ponies Rumble Ponies (41-68, 13-26) to three hits and struck out 15 batters.
Harrison (Win, 4-2) racked up 10 strikeouts in six scoreless innings and allowed two hits. No baserunner went past second base while Harrison was on the mound. It was the second time he totaled double-digit strikeouts with Richmond (53-56, 13-27) and the fourth time overall this season.
Reliever Clay Helvey held Binghamton scoreless through two innings, finishing his night with three strikeouts. John Russell tossed a scoreless ninth inning with a pair of strikeouts.
Richmond jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. After Tyler Fitzgerald stole second base, Tristan Peters drove him in to score with an RBI single. With runners at first and third, Binghamton starter Tony Dibrell (Loss, 1-1) was called for a balk, scoring Peters from third base.
In the third, Fitzgerald launched the Flying Squirrels to a 4-0 advantage with a two-run homer to left field, his 19th home run of the season.
With two runners on and no outs in the fifth, a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt by Fitzgerald brought in two runs to extend the Richmond lead to six runs. Peters notched his second RBI of the night on a double to left and Armani Smith blasted a run-scoring double, extending his on-base streak to 10 games, to move the score to 8-0.
In the sixth inning, Fitzgerald cracked a double to score Mike Gigliotti from first and pushed the Flying Squirrels lead to 9-0. Fitzgerald ended the night 2-for-2 with three RBIs and three runs.
On Thursday, the Flying Squirrels will host Faith Night No. 2 with pre-game player testimonials and music along with fireworks from up close and inside the fences after the game all presented by Puritan Cleaners. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. and gates open at 5:30. Right-hander Kai-Wei Teng (5-8, 4.93) will start for Richmond opposed by right-hander Jose Chacin (1-8, 6.59) of Binghamton.
Tickets are available at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-3866 or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.
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Chris Graham
