A walk-off grand slam by Will Wilson in extra innings blasted the Richmond Flying Squirrels to a 6-2 win over the Altoona Curve on Sunday afternoon at The Diamond.
The Flying Squirrels (6-3) rallied from an early deficit to beat the Curve (3-6) in 10 innings, their fourth come-from-behind win of the series.
In the 10th inning, Jacob Heyward moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt and Altoona issued back-to-back intentional walks to load the bases with one out. On a three-and-one count, Wilson rocketed his grand slam to left field off Altoona reliever Enmanuel Mejia (Loss, 0-1) for the Flying Squirrels’ first walk-off victory of the season.
Five relievers for the Flying Squirrels combined for five scoreless innings and combined for five strikeouts. Right-hander Tyler Schimpf struck out the side in the seventh inning. R.J. Dabovich (Win, 1-0) pitched two innings with a strikeout working the ninth and tenth.
The Curve jumped in front, 1-0, in the first inning with an RBI double by Connor Scott against Richmond starter Tristan Beck.
Blake Sabol extended Altoona’s lead to 2-0 with a solo home run in the fifth inning.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, Shane Matheny worked a walk in a 12-pitch at-bat that scored Sean Roby from third to close the deficit to 2-1.
Richmond tied the game, 2-2, in the eighth when Brett Auerbach reached on a fielder’s choice and an Altoona fielding error brought Matheny home from second base.
Richmond hit 12 home runs over the six-game homestand and all four wins were come-from-behind efforts.
The grand slam was Wilson’s second home run of the season and his second grand slam of his professional career.
The Flying Squirrels are off Monday before hitting the road for a six-game series against the Erie SeaWolves, starting on Tuesday with a 12:35 p.m. first pitch. Erie will send out left-hander Adam Wolf (0-0, 0.00). Richmond has yet to announce their starting pitcher.
The Flying Squirrels next homestand will be April 26-May 1 against the Bowie Baysox. Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-3866 or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.
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