CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Wilson Warbirds scored five times in in the fifth inning without the benefit of a hit as they defeated the Charleston RiverDogs 6-3 on Sunday night at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
Charleston (53-43, 16-14 second half) opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning when Ryan Cermak smashed his first home run of the season, a solo shot, of Hayden Robinson to put the RiverDogs ahead 1-0.
Later in the frame, Brendan Summerhill laced a double to centerfield, advanced to third on a groundout before taking on home on a balk to extend the lead to 2-0.
Wilson (49-45, 13-15 second half) mounted their first scoring chance of the night in the sixth inning when Brady Ebel and Alexander Frias were each issued free passes to start the frame and the Warbirds were able to cash in when Ebel scampered home on a throwing error by the catcher to cut the deficit in half at 2-1.
Later in the frame, still trailing by a run, Wilson loaded the bases via walks to set the table for Pedro Ibarguen who reached base via catcher’s interference which also permitted the tying run to score. One batter later, Frederi Montero was also walked to push the Warbirds in front 3-2.
That brought Kevin Garcia to the plate, he bounced a ball to short for a force out but the throw to first for a potential double play was wide of the base and allowed two more Warbirds to score which moved the advantage to 5-2.
Dylan Lesko (L, 0-3) was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs, four earned over one-third of an inning on the mound.
In the seventh, Brailyn Antunez in his Warbirds debut added to the lead and gave Wilson their first hit of the contest with a solo home run that was torched over the left field wall to move the lead to 6-2.
The RiverDogs clawed back in the bottom of the seventh thanks to an RBI groundout from Alberth Palma to make it a 6-3 lead for Wilson.
Antunez, who made his debut with Wilson after being promoted from the Arizona Complex League earlier this week put together an impressive game with a home run and a trio of walks.
Miqueas Mercedes (W, 2-1) earned the victory out of the bullpen tossing the 3.2 innings out of the bullpen allowing just one run.
Joshua Quezada (S, 5) worked a scoreless ninth inning to earn the save and cap the win for the Warbirds.
Following a day off on Monday, the Warbirds are back at Wilson Ballpark to begin a six-game homestand against the Fredericksburg Nationals on Tuesday night at 6:05 p.m. tickets for the entire series are on sale by visiting WilsonWarbirds.com or by calling (919) 269-2287.