SALEM, VA. - The Wilson Warbirds smashed 18 hits and took 13 walks to claim the series finale 1 17-8 over the Salem RidgeYaks on Sunday afternoon at Salem Memorial Ballpark.
Wilson (63-54, 27-24 second half) raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first five innings. Carsten Sabathia got the party started with a solo home run in the second inning, and Kevin Garcia drove in another to put Wilson ahead 2-0. Trey Ebel and Brailyn Antunez both singled in the fourth inning to drive in another three runs and stretch the lead.
Salem (52-66, 27-26 second half) pulled a run back in the bottom of the fifth when Adonys Guzman plated Louis Andujar on a base hit to right field.
The game unraveled an inning later with the Warbirds scoring nine in the top of the sixth. The inning was highlighted by a two-run double from Ebel and an Antunez RBI single. Although Salem scored twice in the bottom half of the inning, the Warbirds entered the seventh with a commanding 14-3 lead.
Jose Anderson clubbed his league-leading 23rd home run of the year as the exclamation point on a 17-8 win.
Enderson Mercado (W, 5-7) picked up the win for Wilson while Jose Bello (L, 2-6) was the losing pitcher.
The Warbirds return home for the final regular-season series of the year on Tuesday against the Hickory Crawdads. Tickets for the Hickory series are still available at WilsonWarbirds.com or by calling (919) 269-2287 269-2287).