Squirrels flip script on Bowie with walk-off win

Richmond (7-10) turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win over Bowie (9-9) with a pair of ninth-inning runs on Tuesday night at The Diamond.

Hunter Cole tied the game with a booming double to right field and with two outs, Carlos Garcia lined a walk-off single to right field to win the game. Richmond’s Jordan Johnson earned the victory by pitching four shutout innings of relief in a piggyback outing. The Squirrels snapped a two-game slide and a 23 inning scoreless streak in one felled swoop with the ninth inning comeback. Richmond will conclude the homestand on Wednesday at 10:35 a.m. with Education Day at The Diamond.

Miguel Gomez started the ninth inning rally with a base hit to left field. Dylan Davis then reached on a fielder’s choice and scored when Hunter Cole drilled a double off the wall in right center field. After Ryan Lollis struck out, Garcia pushed a base hit to right field to win the game.

It took eight days between starts for Matt Gage to finally make his third appearance of the season. Gage danced around base runners in the first three innings and was able to limit the damage. The lefty pitched around a base hit in the first and escaped bases loaded in the second inning. Gage picked up a double play ball in the third and stranded six runners through the first three innings.  Bowie left on 14 runners in the loss.

After holding the Squirrels to just three hits last Wednesday, Bowie lefty John Means kept Richmond off the board over six innings of work. Means limited the Squirrels to another three hits in his outing Tuesday and with five strikeouts in the no-decision.

Bowie finally broke through in the fourth inning for a 1-0 lead. Sean Coyle led off the inning with a base hit and advanced to third on a one-out single to center field. With two outs, Adrian Marin lashed another single to center for the 1-0 advantage. Gage induced the next batter, Austin Wynns, into a groundout to end the inning. Means tossed 76 pitches over the first four frames.

Gage returned to start the fifth and walked the first batter Aderlin Rodriguez. After Gage was able to strikeout Garabez Rosa for the first out, Richmond reached into the bullpen to summon Carlos Alvarado. Alvarado also walked a batter, but punched out two to end the inning and close the line on Gage. Overall, Gage tossed 4 1/3 innings and allowed just the one run on ten hits. He walked one and struck out three in the no decision.

Means meanwhile, continued to keep Richmond off-balance and worked through six innings before turning the game over to right-hander Lucas Long. Means left the contest with a 1-0 lead, but did not factor into the decision.

Richmond’s Jordan Johnson (1-1) was able to carry the game through the latter innings and eventually earned the win. Johnson struck out five and allowed just a pair of hits to earn the win.

The Flying Squirrels will conclude their second homestand of the season on Wednesday morning at 10:35 a.m., against the Bowie Baysox. Left-hander Andrew Suarez (1-2, 3.18) is scheduled to start for Richmond against Bowie RHP Tanner Scott (0-0, 1.00). Season tickets, mini plans and group outings are available by contacting the Flying Squirrels box office at 804-359-3866 or online at www.squirrelsbaseball.com