RICHMOND, Va. – The Richmond Flying Squirrels took an early lead and rolled to a 10-5 win over the Binghamton Rumble Ponies on Friday night at CarMax Park.
The Flying Squirrels (30-12) collected 10 hits and scored runs in five separate innings to pull away from the Rumble Ponies (15-28).
In the bottom of the second inning, Adrian Sugastey brought in a run with a sacrifice fly and a run scored on an error to give the Flying Squirrels a 2-0 lead.
Bo Davidson hit a two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the third to extend the lead to 3-0 against Binghamton starter Jordan Geber (Loss, 1-5).
The Rumble Ponies closed the gap to 3-1 in the top of the fourth inning with a run-scoring groundout off the bat of Jose Ramos, the only run allowed by Flying Squirrels starter Greg Farone over his 4.1 innings. He finished the night with five strikeouts.
In the fourth, Sugastey hit an RBI single later scored on a groundout by Parks Harber to move the Richmond lead to 5-1.
Diego Velasquez hit an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning, Sugastey drove in a run with a groundout and Velasquez scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to 8-1.
Binghamton cut the deficit to 8-3 with a two-run homer by Nick Lorusso in the top of the sixth and added two runs on sacrifice flies in the eighth to pull within three runs.
Facing Binghamton infielder Wyatt Young, moved to the mound to start the bottom of the eighth inning, Davidson hit a two-run homer to give Richmond a 10-5 lead.
Dale Stanavich (Win, 2-1) pitched a scoreless seventh for the Flying Squirrels. Tyler Vogel (Save, 6) recorded four outs to close the game and moved into second in the Eastern League in saves.
Sugastey and Davidson both drove in three runs.
The series continues on Saturday night. Right-hander Logan Martin (2-0, 3.33) will start for Richmond opposed by Binghamton right-hander Brandon Girton (1-2, 5.01). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at CarMax Park.
On Saturday, celebrate Kick-Off to Summer presented by Budweiser at CarMax Park with a ballpark BBQ to welcome to celebrate the start of summer, featuring a pig pickin’ with pulled pork sandwiches or BBQ plates available on the third-base side of the stadium near the baseball glove statue. Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-FUNN (3866) or in person at the CarMax Park ticket office.