CHARLESTON, S.C. – For the second time in the series, the Charleston RiverDogs used a ninth inning rally as they plated two runs with two out to knock off the Wilson Warbirds 7-6 on Saturday night at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
Down by a run in the ninth, Charleston (53-42, 16-13 second half) loaded the bases and with two out in the frame, Ryan Cermak singled to center off Jarrette Bonet (L, 6-5) to bring home a pair of runs and lift the RiverDogs to a 7-6 victory.
Wilson (48-45, 12-15 second half) wasted no time getting the scoring started as Brady Ebel singled home Handelfry Encarnacion with the game’s first run in the opening frame for a 1-0 advantage.
The lead would swell to 4-0 after the Warbirds put up three runs in the second inning on the strength of two home runs. Rylan Mills clobbered his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot, over the wall in left to give Wilson a 2-0 lead. Later in the frame, Filippo Di Turi connected on a two-run shot to put the Warbirds ahead 4-0.
Charleston responded in the last of the second inning when they loaded the bases ahead of rehabbing MLB player Justyn-Henry Malloy who deposited the first pitch he saw over the wall in left centerfield for a game-tying grand slam.
The RiverDogs took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning. After the first two batters of the frame were retired, Angel Mateo tripled off the wall in left and scored one batter later when Felix Cotes laced a groundball through the right side to give Charleston a 5-4 lead.
Down a run in the seventh inning, Wilson tied the game on a Encarnacion sacrifice fly to knot the contest at five.
In the eighth, Frias came to the plate with the game deadlocked and smothered a ball over the centerfield wall for his fourth longball of the season to give the Warbirds a 6-5 lead.
Yerney Teus (W, 5-0) was credited with the victory after tossing two scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
The series wraps up Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. when Wilson hands the ball to RHP Hayden Robinson (2-1, 4.28) while Charleston will send RHP Jacob Kuhn (1-0, 2.20) to the hill.