Richmond wins 2022 season opener at Bowie, 7-5

The Richmond Flying Squirrels pulled out to an early lead and held off a late charge to top the Bowie Baysox, 7-5, the open the 2022 season on Friday night at Prince George’s Stadium.

The Flying Squirrels (0-1) scored three runs in the third and added three more in the sixth to open a six-run lead and held off the Baysox (0-1), who scored four runs in the final two innings.

Sean Roby opened the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the third inning. Tyler Fitzgerald added a sacrifice fly and Brandon Martorano drove in a run with a single to extend the lead to 3-0 against Bowie starter Drew Rom (Loss, 0-1).

Richmond starter Jake Dahlberg worked 4.1 scoreless innings in his Double-A debut. He struck out eight batters, which matched Dan Slania’s record set in 2017 for the most by a Flying Squirrels pitcher on Opening Day.

Ryan Walker (Win, 1-0) entered with two runners on in the fifth but worked a double play from Maverick Handley to escape the jam.

In the sixth, Jacob Heyward drove an RBI double and Brett Auerbach followed with a two-run homer to push the Richmond advantage to 6-0.

The Baysox broke the shutout in the sixth inning with an RBI single by J.D. Mundy.

Bowie added a run on a fielding error in the eighth, but Frankie Tostado extended the Flying Squirrels lead to 7-2 with an RBI single in the top of the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Baysox plated three runs with two outs against Flying Squirrels reliver R.J. Dabovich. He recovered to strike out Mundy for the final out, stranding the potential tying run at the plate.

Martorano finished the game 3-for-4 with an RBI. Auerbach and Diego Rincones each had two hits.

The Flying Squirrels picked up the first Opening Day road win in the franchise’s history in six attempts. The game was played on the 12-year anniversary of the franchise’s first-ever game on April 8, 2010, which was also at Prince George’s Stadium against the Baysox.

The Richmond pitching staff combined for 15 strikeouts, an Opening Day franchise record.

The game was delayed for 33 minutes in the eighth inning due to rain.

The series continues on Saturday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Right-hander Kai-Wei Teng will start for Richmond in his Double-A debut, countered by Bowie right-hander Brandon Young.

The Flying Squirrels will play their home opener on Tuesday against the Altoona Curve at 6:35 p.m. A limited number of tickets are available at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets.