Squirrels go deep three times in season-ending win

Brandon Van Horn, Jose Layer and Heliot Ramos each hit a home run as part of a six-run, fourth inning to lead the Richmond Flying Squirrels over the Bowie Baysox, 7-1, on Monday afternoon at The Diamond.

Richmond (55-84, 32-40) welcomed 6,631 fans to The Diamond for the season finale, bringing the total season attendance to 400,321. It was the first season since 2015 that the Flying Squirrels welcomed over 400,000 fans to The Diamond.

For the sixth time in franchise history, the Flying Squirrels finished the season first in the Eastern League in overall attendance (6,255). It was the highest average attendance since 2014.

The Flying Squirrels finished the season with an overall record of 55-84, winning seven of the final eight games and four of the last five series.

Richmond took the lead in the bottom of the first inning when Bryce Johnson singled and later scored on an RBI double by Jalen Miller. It was Miller’s team-leading 48th RBI of the season.

Leading, 1-0, over Bowie (76-64, 46-26) in the fourth inning, Van Horn and Layer smacked back-to-back home runs against Alex Wells (Loss, 8-6) to extend the Flying Squirrels’ lead. Van Horn’s two-run shot was his first Double-A home run and Layer’s solo homer was his first Double-A home run.

Matt Winn drew a walk ahead of Van Horn’s homer. He went 2-for-3 with two doubles.

Later in the inning, Ramos over the left-field fence for a three-run homer to put Richmond up, 7-0. It was the third home run of the inning for the Flying Squirrels, a new season high. Richmond tied a season high with six runs in the frame.

Caleb Baragar (Win, 5-5) tossed five scoreless innings to finish his season, striking out six and walking one with two hits allowed. Baragar finished the year with a .192 batting average against, the lowest in Flying Squirrels single-season franchise history.

Alfred Gutierrez (Save, 1) allowed a run in the ninth, but completed the final four innings to secure the win.

The 2020 Flying Squirrels season begins on Thursday, April 9 at Prince George’s Stadium against the Bowie Baysox. Richmond will play 70 games at The Diamond in 2020, beginning with the home opener on Thursday, April 16 at 6:35 p.m. against the Baysox. A full overview of the 2020 schedule can be found here.

For tickets or more information, call 804-359-3866 (FUNN), visit SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets or stop by the Flying Squirrels box office.