AKRON, Ohio – The Richmond Flying Squirrels held back a late rally by the Akron RubberDucks for a 5-4 win on Thursday night at 7 17 Credit Union Park.
The Flying Squirrels (33-14) extended their Southwest Division lead to 7.5 games over the RubberDucks (26-22) with 21 games remaining in the Eastern League’s first half.
With the score tied, 2-2, entering the top of the sixth, Adrian Sugastey and Sabin Ceballos led off with singles before Diego Velasquez brought in a run with a sacrifice fly to move the Flying Squirrels ahead, 3-2, against RubberDucks reliever Carter Rustad (Loss, 2-1).
Richmond led off the seventh with three straight extra-base hits to pad the lead. Dayson Croes hit a triple and scored on a double by Jonah Cox, his third hit of the game.
Parks Harber doubled to left to plate Cox and push the Richmond lead to 5-2.
Akron brought in runs with an RBI double by Jaison Chourio and a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth, but Mitch White (Save, 5) stranded two runners on base to end the game.
The Flying Squirrels opened the scoring in the of the second. Sabin Ceballos worked a two-out walk and later scored on an error after an infield single by Diego Velasquez to give the Flying Squirrels a 1-0 lead.
With two outs in the third, Cox reached on an infield single, stole second and scored on a single by Harber to open a 2-0 Richmond lead.
The RubberDucks evened the score, 2-2, in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI groundout by Guy Lipscomb and a run-scoring infield single by Jose Devers.
Cesar Perdomo started for the Flying Squirrels and threw four innings, allowing two runs with five strikeouts. Dale Stanavich (Win, 3-1), Manuel Mercedes and Brad Deppermann combined for four scoreless relief innings.
Cox went 3-for-5 to bump his MiLB-leading batting average to .413. He also picked up his league-leading 27th stolen base of the season, tied for the sixth-most in a season in Flying Squirrels franchise history.
Harber drove in two runs and now has 21 RBIs in his last 18 games since May 7. In that stretch, he is batting .319 (23-for-72) with six homers and six doubles.
The series continues on Friday night. Lefty Greg Farone (0-4, 7.49) will start for Richmond countered by Akron left-hander Caden Favors (1-4, 5.36). First pitch is scheduled for 7:17 p.m. at 7 17 Credit Union Park in Akron.
Following the road trip, the Flying Squirrels return to CarMax Park for a 12-game homestand from June 2-14. Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-FUNN (3866) or in person at the CarMax Park ticket office.