Richmond Flying Squirrels blanked in finale by New Hampshire, 2-0

Richmond was blanked by New Hampshire’s Casey Lawrence in a rain-stalled, 2-0 loss on Thursday night at The Diamond.

Lawrence pitched into the eighth inning and was only removed when the game was stopped due to rain for a1:36 delay. The Squirrels season series sweep against the Fisher Cats fell just short in front of 8,409 fans. Richmond finishes the regular season with a 5-1 record vs. New Hampshire and will head to Altoona on Friday to play the Curve. The loss dropped Richmond 1.0 games behind the second place Curve.

Casey Lawrence (11-10) kept the Squirrels off balance over seven shutout innings to earn the win. Lawrence walked none and allowed just four hits to help the ‘Cats avoid the season series sweep. Lawrence was sent out to pitch the eighth inning and threw one pitch to Myles Schroder before the rain became too heavy to continue playing.

The Fisher Cats collected the only runs of the game the fourth inning off Quirarte. With one out, Quirarte walked Kevin Nolan and allowed a double to Ryan Schimpf to put runners on second and third. K.C. Hobson then delivered a two-run single past the drawn in infield to right field to produce the first and only runs of the night.

Edwin Quirarte (0-3) was hit with the loss despite a quality start. He lasted six innings and allowed just the two runs on four hits in his sixth start of the season. Quirarte walked four and struck out two and was removed to start the seventh inning for reliever Pedro Rodriquez.  The righty Rodriguez retired all six batters he faced with a pair of strikeouts. Kyle Crick tossed the ninth inning to extend the bullpen scoreless streak to 24 1/3 innings.

Casey Lawrence (11-10) kept the Squirrels off balance over seven shutout innings to earn the win. Lawrence walked none and allowed just four hits to help the ‘Cats avoid the season series sweep.

The Squirrels head to Altoona to begin a three game series against the Curve on Friday night. Richmond RHP Tyler Beede (2-5, 5.51) will start for the Squirrels against Curve LHP Tom Harlan. First pitch is set for 7:00 PM with the Flying Squirrels Pregame Warmup starting at 6:30 PM on Fox Sports 910 and FoxSportsRichmond.com.

– Source: Richmond Flying Squirrels