Moncrief mashes Squirrels to series sweep

Outfielder Carlos Moncrief crushed a pair of home runs to complete the Flying Squirrels (23-37) series sweep over New Hampshire (26-33) in a 6-5 win on Thursday night at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.

Hunter Cole added a solo shot to back a solid start for Squirrels starting pitcher Tyler Beede. Beede (4-3), picked up the win with six solid innings of work. The victory completed a three game sweep for the Flying Squirrels and extended their winning streak to a season-high tying four games.

The Fisher Cats grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the series finale off starting pitcher Tyler Beede in the second inning. Ian Parmley delivered a one-out triple and scored via a double by Shane Opitz for a 1-0 New Hampshire lead. Beede used 21 pitches in the inning and picked up his first of a season-high seven strikeouts.

Richmond responded with a pair of runs to take the lead in the top of the third against New Hampshire starter Casey Lawrence. Ali Castillo extended his hitting-streak to seven games with a leadoff base hit moved to third on Darren Ford’s double. Christian Arroyo and Ryder Jones both executed sacrifice fly balls in succession to score the Squirrels first two runs.

The lead was short-lived as New Hampshire’s Jason Leblebijian homered to centerfield to tie the game, 2-2. Carlos Moncrief returned fire for Richmond with a solo home run to right centerfield in the fourth inning and a sequel solo blast in the sixth to take a 4-2 lead.

Pitching with the lead, Beede was able to navigate through the middle innings in his 11th start of the season. Beede worked around a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth inning and pitched into the seven. Beede walked Leblebijian to start the seventh and was removed for Phil McCormick. McCormick struck out the first batter Dwight Smith Jr. and picked up a double play ball to close out Beede’s outing. Beede (4-3) pitched six innings and allowed two runs on eight hits. He walked one and struck out seven in the win.

TheSquirrels chased Lawrence in the seventh inning as Darren Ford connected on his second double and scored via a sacrifice fly for a 5-2 Richmond lead. Lawrence took the loss and allowed five runs on ten hits over 6 1/3 innings.

Hunter Cole stretched the Squirrels lead to four runs with his fourth home run of the season to open the eighth inning. It turned out to be the game-winning run as New Hampshire rallied for three runs in the ninth inning. After cruising through the first six batters, Phil McCormick hit a snag with an error to open up the bottom of the ninth. An infield single forced McCormick from the game with one out in the ninth and Tyler Mizenko entered to attempt to get the final two outs. Leblebijian greeted Mizenko with a three-run homer, his second long-ball of the night, to pull the Fisher Cats to within a run, 6-5. Mizenko recorded the second out of the inning and another error allowed the game tocontinue and bring the winning-run to the plate. Christian Jones then replaced Mizenko an struck out Rowdy Tellez to end the game and earn his first save of the season.