Following a pair of disappointing extra inning losses to start the series that dropped Hub City to third behind the Greenville Drive in the South Atlantic League South division standings, the Spartanburgers – playing as the Malmo Oat Milkers – looked to find some positive momentum on Thursday night at Fifth Third Park.
The task ahead of them would be tall as they battled a 43 minute rain delay and the electric fastball of Wilmington’s ace and Nationals #1 prospect – right hander Travis Sykora (1-0, 1.38 ERA). He came out swinging early – or rather, came out getting the Oat Mikers swinging. Sykora’s fastball was hitting 98-99 on the gun, with an offspeed that dropped 12 MPH en route to striking out the side in the top of the 1st.
Hub City countered with Kolton Curtis (2-1, 5.19), who did a good job of matching Sykora’s output — up until the 6th inning.
The big inning started with a leadoff walk to center fielder Sam Petersen followed by a hit by pitch call that put shortstop Marcus Brown on. Curtis struck out catcher Caleb Lomavita for the first out, but things unraveled quickly after that. First baseman Branden Boisierre doubled off the base of the fence in right center, plating two. The next 5 batters all reached, with three more runs scoring on a wild pitch, an RBI single from designated hitter Matt Suggs, and another knock from nine hole hitter Armando Cruz. Eventually, Anthony Susac, who took over after Dorman alum and Wilmington left fielder TJ White drew a walk to follow Boisierre’s 2 bagger, got out of the inning by getting Petersen to ground into a 5-3 double play.
That bad inning put Hub City in a 5-0 deficit heading to the bottom of the 6th, and put Curtis on the hook for the loss after 5 and a third with 4 runs (3 earned) on 4 hits, 3 walks, and 6 strikeouts.
Despite the deep hole, the Oat Milkers did start to get the bats going in the home half of the 6th. Theo Hardy started things off by drawing a walk off Tom Glavine’s son — Wilmington reliever Peyton. Casey Cook followed with a single, later to be erased on a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Arturo Disla that advanced Hardy 90 more feet. Gleider Figuereo broke up the shutout with an RBI single that was followed by a double to the right field corner from Keith Jones II. However, they would end up leaving 2 in scoring position after Anthony Gutierrez grounded out to 2nd to end the inning.
Josh Trentadue worked the next three frames in relief, keeping Hub City in position to chip away at the deficit. His lone blemish was a solo home run to lead off the top of the ninth by Petersen. In the interim, the Oat Milkers kept chipping away with another single run in the 8th, cashing in a 2 out throwing error on the 2nd baseman that allowed Gutierrez to reach when Yeison Morrobel followed it with a double.
The Milkers almost came all the way back in the bottom of the ninth on a rally that started with back to back walks from Wady Mendez and Theo Hardy. With one out after a run saving liner to short from Cook, Disla worked a walk to load the bases, prompting a pitching change. Gleider Figuereo popped up to third in foul ground, but Jones II came up clutch with a 2 out, 2 run double to left center that cut the deficit to just a run, and placed the tying and winning runs in scoring position for Gutierrez. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as Anthony grounded out to 2nd to end it, sealing the 6-5 win for the Blue Rocks and handing Hub City their 4th straight loss.
Even less helpful – an opportunity to gain ground was lost as well as after Thursday night’s games, the Greenville Drive took over sole possession of first place by half a game via a 3-2 win over Hudson Valley. Bowling Green fell to 2nd with an 8-7 loss to Winston-Salem.
Hub City is now at .500 (30-30) and still looking to correct course, now needing to win each of the next three to salvage a split. They will take their first crack at it Friday night at 7:05 as David Davalillo (4-0, 1.09 ERA) faces Andry Lara (0-3, 8.84).
