UVa. alum Will Roberts pitches Akron past Richmond, 9-3

The Richmond Flying Squirrels (41-46) recent woes continued as they were beaten by Richmond native Will Roberts and the Akron Aeros, 9-3, in front of 9,017 at The Diamond.  It marked the third consecutive crowd of more than 9,000 fans over the Independence Day weekend, but also marked the Squirrels third straight loss as they dropped the series.

Squirrels’ right-hander Craig Westcott made a tremendous start, tossing six scoreless innings.  However, he received no support while he was in the game, and didn’t record a decision.  He allowed just four hits – all singles.  He walked two and struck out four.

Roberts (6-6) matched Westcott stride-for-stride, limiting the Squirrels to just three singles through the first six innings.  He continued into the seventh inning, eventually retiring to the win after 6 2/3 scoreless innings.  He walked one and struck out three in his first professional appearance in his hometown.

The Aeros broke the stalemate as soon as the Squirrels went to the bullpen in the seventh inning.  Lefty Josh Osich came on to make his home debut with the Squirrels.  He conceded a one-out double to Quincy Latimore into the left-field corner.  He struck out Jake Lowery for the second out, but Kyle Bellows guided a single back through the middle to bring in Latimore for a 1-0 lead.  Osich then allowed a single to Justin Toole and walked Jose Ramirez.  He was lifted in favor of righty Edwin Quirarte.  Quirarte endured some misfortune upon his entry, conceding a swinging-bunt single to Matt Lawson that scored Bellows.  An actual bunt-single to score another run followed from Tyler Holt.  Quirarte then walked Jesus Aguilar to force in a run.  All four runs were charged to Osich (0-1) in the inning as he took his first loss in the Eastern League.

Akron batted around for the second consecutive inning in the eighth inning.  Right-hander Scott Shuman walked the bases loaded before Toole singled in a run.  Lefty Phil McCormick came on but couldn’t douse the flames.  He surrendered a two-run double to Ramirez, an RBI groundout to Lawson and an RBI single to Carlos Moncrief.  The Aeros took a 9-0 lead with four runs charged to Shuman, who did not record an out.

Richmond avoided being shut out with three runs against lefty J.D. Reichenbach in the ninth inning.  Mark Minicozzi contributed an RBI double, Ehire Adrianza supplied an RBI single and Mark Wagner capped the scoring for the night with a sacrifice fly.  Right-hander Cole Cook came on to finish the ballgame.

Game four of the five-game series is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 2:05 p.m.  Richmond LHP Jack Snodgrass (7-3, 2.92) makes the start against Akron RHP Toru Murata (3-3, 3.07). The Flying Squirrels Pregame Warmup will begin on Sports Radio 910, SportsRadio910.com and IHeart Radio at 1:35 p.m.