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 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Blue Rocks Slug Their Way to 5-3 Win in Myrtle Beach

August 19, 2014 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Myrtle Beach, SC - Three solo home runs in the second inning and another solid start from Sean Manaea vaulted the Blue Rocks to a 5-3 win over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans on Tuesday night at TicketReturn.com Field. With the victory, the Blue Crew improved to 27-27 in the second half and to 60-62 overall. They sit four games behind the first-place Potomac Nationals and are tied for second place with the Lynchburg Hillcats.

Wilmington's three-homer barrage in the second began with a Zane Evans solo shot off of Sam Wolff to lead off the frame. Cam Gallagher and Jared Schlehuber then connected for back-to-back two-out home runs, extending the Blue Rocks' advantage to 3-0.

Schlehuber came through again with a two-out two-RBI single in the sixth inning to make it 5-0 Blue Rocks. Bubba Starling doubled to lead off the frame and moved to third on a single by Evans. Gallagher drew a two-out walk to set up Schlehuber's base hit.

Myrtle Beach answered back with three runs in the home half of the sixth to pull within 5-3. The runs scored on sacrifice flies by Ryan Cordell and Kellin Deglan, as well as an RBI single from Preston Beck. All three runs were charged to Manaea, who was lifted with one out in the frame.

Manaea worked 5.1 excellent frames. He gave up just the three three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out nine. Daniel Stumpf and Kyle Bartsch combined to throw 3.2 scoreless innings in relief to nail down the victory.

Manaea (6-8, 3.34) picked up the win for Wilmington. Wolff (8-5, 3.21) suffered the Loss for Myrtle Beach. After yielding five runs on seven hits across five frames. Bartsch earned his fourth save in six tries with a perfect ninth.

The Rocks return to action on Wednesday night at TicketReturn.com Field in Myrtle Beach for game two of three against the Pelicans. Righty Glenn Sparkman (7-2, 1.37) will get the ball for Wilmington while Myrtle Beach will counter with southpaw Chad Bell (5-2, 3.57). First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. and fans can listen to the broadcast on 89.7 WGLS-FM.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Zane Evans, Cam Gallagher and Jared Schlehuber all hit home runs in the second inning on Tuesday, launching the Blue Rocks to an early 3-0 lead. It was the first time in 2014 that Wilmington had hit three long balls in one frame. Evans led off the inning with a home run while Gallagher and Schlehuber went back-to-back with two outs. All three dingers were solo shots. The Blue Rocks have now hit back-to-back homers on three occasions in 2014. Michael Antonio and Mark Donato accomplished the feat on June 8 in the fifth inning at Potomac. Schlehuber and Daniel Rockett hit back-to-back home runs on July 16, also in the fifth at Potomac. Entering play, the Blue Crew had hit three home runs against Myrtle Beach in 16 games this year. They doubled that total in one night on Tuesday.

Sean Manaea was outstanding again for the Blue Rocks on Wednesday and won for the fourth time in his last five decisions. The southpaw threw 5.1 strong frames, yielding three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out nine. Manaea has been tremendous in the second half. Since the All-Star Break, he is 4-3 with a 2.12 ERA in 11 starts. He has struck out 63, walked 27 and given up 37 hits in 59.1 innings pitched since the break. Manaea has turned in Wilmington's two best starts of the season. On August 13, he threw a seven-inning complete-game shutout in the opener of a doubleheader against the Frederick Keys. Two starts prior to that one, on August 2, Manaea worked 7.1 shutout innings against the Keys. It is still the longest outing by a Blue Crew pitcher in 2014. On the campaign, the 6-foot-5 hurler is 6-8 with a 3.34 ERA in 23 starts. He has fanned 130, walked 52 and given up 94 hits in 107.2 innings pitched. His 130 strikeouts this season first in the Carolina League while his 3.34 ERA ranks sixth among active CL pitchers.

Frank Schwindel announced his presence with a pair of base hits on Tuesday during his his Blue Rocks debut. The right-handed hitting slugger batted fifth and finished the night 2-for-4 in his first career game at the Advanced-A level. Only four Blue Rocks have recorded two hits in their first start with the club this season: Hunter Dozier on April 3, Cody Stubbs on April 4, Tyler Chism on April 6 and Mark Threlkeld on July 4. Schwindel began the campaign with Low-A Lexington, where he had the best offensive season of anyone on the team. In 102 games with the Legends, he batted .286 with 29 doubles, three triples, 20 homers and 20 RBIs. Schwindel is in his second season as a pro. He played in 64 games for Rookie-Level Idaho Falls a year and batted .300 with 14 doubles, a triple, six homers and 25 RBIs.

Wilmington's 5-3 win at Myrtle Beach on Tuesday was a rare victory for the Blue Rocks against the Pelicans. The win moved the Blue Crew to 4-13 against Myrtle Beach this year. They have been swept three times by the Pelicans this season. The Rocks have been outmatched both at home and on the road this season against the Pelicans. They are 2-7 at Frawley Stadium against Myrtle Beach and 2-6 at TicketReturn.com Field. The Blue Crew's numbers against Myrtle Beach this year are not pretty. As a team, the Rocks are batting just .200 with 51 runs scored and six home runs in 17 games against the Pelicans. Conversely, the Pelicans are batting .262 with 85 runs scored and 11 home runs against Blue Rocks pitching. The Pelicans' 11 long balls against Wilmington the most allowed to any team by the Blue Rocks. No other club has hit more than 10 dingers off of the Rocks' pitching staff. Pelican pitchers have a 2.32 ERA in 147.2 innings during the head-to-head series. Blue Crew hurlers, on the other hand, have a 4.85 ERA in 143 innings against the Pelicans.

THEY SAID IT:

Manager Darryl Kennedy:

"It definitely felt good to get a win here. My mindset [Tuesday] was we had to get a win. These guys have beaten us quite a bit this year and I felt like once we got that lead at the beginning of the game, we had to win just for the morale and these next two games. You don't really want to use your two best [relievers] to finish out a ballgame in [Daniel] Stumpf and [Kyle] Bartsch but it was one of those situations where you felt like we had to win. It paid off for us and we got a W."

"[Daniel Stumpf] came in and did a good job by limiting the damage and keeping the lead. He was so amped up it started affecting his normal control. After he got out of that big inning, I know it was an emotional inning, the fist pump and all of that. Then he went back out, the adrenaline just kept going and kept going. It got him out of his game. I talked to him after he finished that seventh inning and was just like, 'Hey, we've got to control the emotions. We've got to control the emotions.' He did a better job in that eighth inning but, still, you could tell, once they got a hit it was like fast-forward. Outstanding job, nonetheless. It was good to see him come in that situation and get us out of it."

"[Kyle Bartsch] came in the other night to close out a game in multiple innings. He did the same thing, he let the adrenaline get to him and he got out of himself. Tonight, he knew he only had to get three outs. He went out and pitched like he can do. That's the one of thing that both of those guys have got to work on, is being able to control those emotions and pitch like they know how to pitch."

"This is, I think, two times now that [Sean Manaea] is pitching outstanding baseball, then we have a long inning and then he goes back out and struggles. I talked to him after the game, that's something that we've got to learn to deal with, when you have long innings. Especially in the Big Leagues, you're not allowed to go to the bullpen in a long inning and throw. Here, we are. He went down there tonight, but it was a little too late. He's got to learn to take those long innings and go back out there and continue. Those [first] five innings were outstanding. Control, changing speeds, location. He was on his game tonight."

"Zane [Evans] did a great job with a two-strike home run there on a breaking ball. He was just able to get it over the fence. He hit it hard, but I didn't know if it was going to be high enough to get over the wall. Cam [Gallagher] does a great job with a 3-2 count. He got a fastball. I think the biggest impact of the game was the next pitch to [Jared] Schlehuber. We get two home runs right there and then Schlehuber comes up looking dead red. He gets a pitch and deposits that one way over the fence. Looking back at it, I think that was the biggest hit we had tonight."

"That was a huge, huge, hit [by Jared Schlehuber] as well. That's what you need when you get down to this time. You need those guys that have been in the league. He was here in the league last year for a little bit to finish up the year, had some success. He struggled a little bit this year. Started out in Double-A, came back and now he's starting to pick it back up again. That's what we need, that veteran guy of the league to start stepping up. He was huge tonight."

"I announced it tonight that Lynchburg lost. I want these guys to know. It's that time. You've got two weeks left. It's right in front of us. It's time to make the push."


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Carolina League Stories from August 19, 2014


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