Squirrels rally for fifth straight win

The Flying Squirrels (43-60) won their fifth consecutive contest on Thursday night, defeating New Hampshire (46-58), 4-2 at The Diamond. The Squirrels pulled ahead with a pair of runs in the seventh inning and reached five straight wins for the first time this season. Sam Coonrod earned the victory by pitching seven solid innings. Brandon Bednar, Ryder Jones and Chris Shaw all had three hit performances in the series opener.

The Fisher Cats struck first against Richmond RHP Sam Coonrod in the second inning. Ryan Lavarnway reached on a throwing error from the newly acquired shortstop John Polonius. Designated hitter Derrick Loveless followed with a two-run homer over the left field wall to give the Fisher Cats a 2-0 lead. Emilio Guerrero added a triple but was cut down by Brandon Bednar trying to score on a ground ball to second.

Richmond had runners aboard in each of the first five innings against New Hampshire’s righty Wilmer Font. Font danced around three consecutive hits in the first and bases loaded in the second. Ryder Jones connected on a one-out single in the third – his second of three hits in the game – but was stranded at first to end the inning.

Darren Ford was finally able to break through for Richmond in the fourth. Chris Shaw drilled a triple off the center field wall and Ford brought him home with a base hit up the middle, trimming the deficit, 2-1. Font managed to navigate through the rest of the inning and was pulled after five innings of work. The veteran righty allowed just the one run on eight hits. He walked one and struck out one in five innings of work.

Coonrod gained strength as the game carried on. The righty set the side down in order in the fourth inning and faced the minimum in the fifth and sixth. Coonrod was able to limit his pitches and used 75 over the first six innings. Coonrod finished with seven solid innings for the win.

The Squirrels soared ahead, 3-2, for the first time against the Fisher Cats bullpen in the bottom of the seventh inning. John Polonius connected on his first Double-A hit to open the inning and Brandon Bednard added a one-out single to left. Ryder Jones then tied the game, 2-2, with a single to right field and reliever Tim Mayza walked Carlos Moncrief to load the bases. New Hampshire swapped out Mayza for hard-throwing right- hander John Stilson in an attempt to get out of the inning. Stilson promptly struck out Tyler Horan but Chris Shaw struck for a base hit to right. Bednar scored on the single, but Jones was tossed out at the plate to end the inning

The pair of runs in the seventh gave starter Sam Coonrod the possibility of a win. Coonrod (3-2) tossed 93 pitches over seven innings of work in his seventh Double-A start. The southern Illinois product allowed only two runs on four hits. He struck out four in the win.

Christian Jones dealt a scoreless eighth inning and Richmond talied an insurance run on the bottom half. Steve Lerud worked a walk with one out and came racing home via Steven Duggar’s double down the left field line. Rodolfo Martineze entered in the ninth and pitched a scoreless frame to earn his third save.