Squirrels falter in extras: Baysox win opener in 11th

The Flying Squirrels (35-50) dropped game one of the series in Bowie, falling in 11 innings by a final of 5-4 on Friday at Prince George’s Stadium. The Baysox (46-41) scored the game-winning run on a base hit to center field from Austin Hayes. Starting pitchers Sam Coonrod and David Hess each turned in solid six-inning performances, but earned no-decisions in the contest. Richmond will attempt to even the series on Satruday night at 6:35 p.m.

Mike Yastrzemski scored the game-winning run from second base in the 11th inning. Yastrzemski reached on a double to right center field and Hays floated a short fly to center field to win the game. Squirrels reliever Carlos Alvarado (1-2) suffered the loss by recording two outs before the game-winner.

Prior to Alvarado entering, the Richmond bullpen trio of Seth Rosin, Ryan Halstead and Vic Black worked a combined four scoreless innings. Rosin tossed two innings in his Richmond debut.

The Baysox took advantage of an error in the first inning to grab a 1-0 lead on Friday. Mike Yastrzemski reached on an error and scored when D.J. Stewart flipped a single into the outfield off of starting pitcher Sam Coonrod.

Bowie starting pitcher David Hess dodged some early trouble when he walked the first two batters of the game and worked allowed a pair of base hits in the second.

Hess could not evade trouble in the third as Richmond pulled ahead, briefly, 2-1. Slade Heathcott worked a walk and K.C. Hobson connected on a single. Hobson’s base hit advanced Heathcott to third base and allowed the big first baseman to steal second. Myles Schroder then delivered the runs with a hustle double into shallow left center field.

Yastrzemski retaliated with a two-run homer in the bottom half of the third. Yastrzemski drilled his fourth home run on just his ninth game back with Bowie to give the Baysox a 3-2 lead.

Hess kept the lead intact despite allowing plenty of traffic through the middle innings. Richmond loaded the bases to start the sixth inning, but Hess struck out Dylan Davis, Jeff Arnold and Rando Moreno to end the threat and close out his outing. The righty lasted six innings and allowed two runs on five hits. He struck out seven and threw 110 pitches in a no-decision.

With Hess out of the game, Richmond pounced on reliever Bobby Bundy in the seventh. Heathcott and C.J. Hinojosa opened the inning with a base hits. After K.C. Hobson stuck out, Schroder delivered a single into center field to tie the game, 3-3. Hinojosa later scored on a wild pitch, giving Richmond a 4-3 lead.

Coonrod returned to pitch the seventh inning, however the first two runners reached to end hit outing. Seth Rosin entered and allowed a game-tying RBI double to Adrian Marin before ending the frame.