Shorebirds Bounce Back, Even Series with RidgeYaks
Four Scoreless from Hunter Paces Delmarva to Victory
SALEM, VA: The Delmarva Shorebirds (11-18) evened the series with the Salem RidgeYaks (13-16) on Wednesday night with a 6-4 victory.
Raylin Ramos gave Delmarva a quick lead with an RBI single in the top of the first, scoring Braylon Whitaker and making it 1-0 Shorebirds.
Delmarva added to their lead in the third on an RBI groundout from Joshua Liranzo, his team-best 13th RBI, putting the Shorebirds in front 2-0.
In the fourth, the Delmarva put together their best inning of the night, scoring three times. It began with an RBI double by Jose Perez, his fifth extra-base hit with the Shorebirds, making it 3-0. Moments later, Félix Amparo scored Perez with an RBI single. An error by the RidgeYaks on a ground ball hit by Braylon Whitakers allowed Amparo to score, giving the Shorebirds a 5-0 advantage.
Caden Hunter put together a strong start for Delmarva, throwing four scoreless innings and recording a career-high 6 strikeouts.
However, Salem battled back by scoring one run in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Starlyn Nunez. They then scored three more runs in the sixth, cutting Delmarva's once 5-0 lead to 5-4.
The Shorebirds produced an insurance run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Andrés Nolaya, scoring Joshua Liranzo and putting Delmarva back up by two at 6-4.
Delmarva's bullpen would hold the lead from there, as Kenny Leiner, Bradley Brehmer, and Riley Cooper combined to throw 3.2 scoreless innings, and the Shorebirds took game two over Salem, 6-4.
J.D. Hennen (1-0) earned his first professional win in relief, while Riley Cooper (1) recorded his first save of the season. Salem's starter, Ethan Walker (2-2) was saddled with the loss.
Delmarva goes for a second-straight win and the series lead on Thursday, with Esteban Mejia taking the mound against Christian Foutch for the RidgeYaks. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 PM.