Squirrels fall short in series finale

The Flying Squirrels (16-22) concluded their road trip on Wednesday morning by dropping the series finale to Akron (17-18), 7-5 at Canal Park. Dylan Davis provided the offensive spark for Richmond with an RBI double and home run in the defeat. It was the second consecutive game with a homer for Davis. The Squirrels are off on Thursday and return to The Diamond for a seven game homestand beginning on Friday. A full homestand preview can be found here.  

Richmond jumped out to a 1-0 lead with the run in the second inning. Brandon Bednar started things up with a one-out single to center field off of Akron’s starting lefty Luis Lugo. Davis then ripped a double down the left field line, scoring Bednar from first to take the lead.

Akron countered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning off of Richmond lefty Matt Lujan The RubberDucks opened up the inning with four consecutive base hits to tie the game. Joe Sever lined a single to right field to provide the first run and Mark Mathias worked a walk with the bases loaded to take a 2-1 lead. Lujan scuffled in the inning and needed 34 pitches to get out of it.

Yu Chang made it a 3-1 contest with a home run in the third inning and Akron managed to force Lujan from the game early in the fourth. After Mark Mathias and Todd Hankins reached on a pair of hits, MikePapi drilled a three-run homer over the right field wall to pull ahead, 6-1. Papi’s homer sealed the outing for Lujan who was removed for Jose Flores. The leftLujan (1-3) lasted 3.1 innings and allowed six runs on nine hits. He struck out five and walked one in the loss.

Lugo worked with the lead and retired eight consecutive batters until he was disrupted in the fifth inning. Dylan Davislead off the inning with his second home run in as many games, a towering shot over the left field wall. Adam Sonabend and C.J. Hinojosa both added RBI doubles and Miguel Gomez capped the inning with an RBI base hit. The four-run inning pulled Richmond to within one, 6-5.

Lugo (3-1) lasted through five innings to earn the win in his roughest start of the season. Mitch Brown entered in the sixth and tossed three scoreless innings to back Lugo. Robbie Aviles tossed the ninth to earn his first save of the year.

The Richmond bullpen kept the game close, with Flores working 1.2 innings of scoreless relief. D.J. Snelten retire all three batters he faced in the sixth inning and Carlos Alvarado worked the seventh. The RubberDucks managed an insurance run in the seventh to go ahead, 7-5.

Tyler Cyr tossed the eighth inning for Richmond and turned in a 1-2-3 inning.

The Flying Squirrels return to The Diamond onFriday, May 19 with another Free Shirt Friday & Happy Hour. RHP Cory Taylor is scheduled to start for the Squirrels against Senators RHP Austen Williams.

Flying Squirrels individual tickets, mini plans and group packages are on sale by contacting the Richmond box office at 804-359-FUNN or online atwww.squirrelsbaseball.com