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Richmond Flying Squirrels top Trenton, 7-4

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richmond-squirrelsThe Richmond Flying Squirrels (36-26) grinded out a, 7-4, win over the trenton thunder (33-32) at ARM & HAMMER Park on Tuesday night.  The win is the third in a row over the Thunder for the Squirrels and guarantees them a winning record on their current road trip as they have won four of the first five.  The victory also returns the Squirrels to a high-water mark of 10 games above .500.

The Squirrels jumped in front against right-hander Bryan Mitchell in the top of the first inning.  With one out, Matt Duffy banked a single off of Mitchell and into center field.  He advanced two bases on consecutive wild-pitches from Mitchell and scored for a 1-0 lead when Angel Villalona lined a single into right field.

The Thunder drew even against lefty Ty Blach in the third inning.  Ben Gamel got Trenton started with a double drilled into the left-center field alley.  An out later, Gary Sanchez lined a single to left-center to bring in Gamel and tie the ballgame, 1-1.

Richmond rushed back to the lead in the top of the fourth.  Jarrett Parker got the Squirrels started with a one-out single.  An out later, Tyler LaTorre drew a walk from Mitchell to put two aboard.  Devin Harris followed and launched a three-run home run to right-center field.  Harris’ fifth of the season gave the Squirrels a 4-1 lead.

Mitchell returned in the fifth inning, but was lifted after walking Mario Lisson with one out.  Lefty James Pazos entered and conceded a single to Villalona.  Parker then drew a walk to load the bases.  Ricky Oropesa made it 5-1 Squirrels with an RBI single to right field.  LaTorre followed and lofted a sacrifice-fly to left field for a 6-1 advantage.

Mitchell (1-4) was charged with five earned runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings.  He walked three, struck out four and endured his fourth defeat of the season.

Blach (4-3) worked five innings for his fourth win of the season.  He surrendered just the lone run on five hits, walked two and struck out four.

Peter O’Brien got a run back for the Thunder in the sixth when he lined a solo-home run to left field. The shot, off of lefty Phil McCormick, was O’Brien’s 22nd overall home run of the season and cut the Richmond lead to 6-2.

The Thunder inched another run closer in the seventh when Ali Castillo banged a lead-off triple against McCormick off of the left-field wall.  Mason Williams then brought him in with an infield-single.

The Squirrels responded against lefty Fred Lewis with a two-out rally in the eighth to stem the tide.  Matt Duffy knocked a double to left-center – his fourth hit of the night – to get things started.  Lisson then laced a single into left field to plate Duffy and cap Richmond’s scoring for the evening.

Right-hander Cody Hall retired all four batters that he faced out of the Squirrels’ bullpen.  He handed it off to right-hander Hunter Strickland, who finished the job despite conceding the final run of the night to the Thunder.

Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday night at ARM & HAMMER Park.  Richmond LHPJack Snodgrass (6-0, 2.25) will make the start against Trenton LHP Jeremy Bleich (4-5, 4.37). The Flying Squirrels Pregame Warmup begins at 6:35 p.m. on Sports Radio 910 and SportsRadio910.com.

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