News Release, Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
The first-half title for Southern Maryland may be mostly out of the picture, but a battle for third place with the Lancaster Barnstormers ensued this evening. The Blue Crabs and the ‘Stormers each entered today’s ballgame nine and a half games out of first place in the Freedom Division, and each had ten or fewer games remaining in the half.
The Blue Crabs bats came out hot, but Lancaster got the final say in a 10-3 blowout Barnstormer victory. Southern Maryland got on the board in the top of the first on the ‘Stormers starter, Jonathan Albaladejo (W, 1-3), when Rubi Silva sent a hot shot line drive to center field that hopped the fence and put him on second with a ground rule double. Silva would be the first from either side to cross home plate, coming on an RBI from Frank Martinez to put the good guys up one early.
Lancaster responded right away off of Michael Kelly (L, 3-4), who had been terrific in his last half dozen starts. The right-hander came into Friday night’s contest with an ERA in a starting role lower than 3.00 but showed a rare rough outing this evening. The Atlantic League leader in RBI, Caleb Gindl picked up another RBI by driving in the speedy Darian Sandford to knot the scoring at one apiece after one inning of play. The Blue Crabs didn’t back down, as in the top of the second a line drive single from the bat of Edwin Garcia brought home Jon Griffin, who reached via an error, putting Southern Maryland back up by a score of 2-1.
As Albaladejo settled down, Kelly’s night would turn sour. The Barnstormers would plate a total of eight runs in the next two frames combined, giving them a healthy 9-2 lead through four innings of play. The Southern Maryland bats fell silent after coming out of the gates steaming hot and struggled to pick back up. Lancaster, however, would plate an insurance run on a Parker Morin RBI double in the bottom of the sixth to give the ‘Stormers double digits runs in the contest.
Southern Maryland plated one more in the top of the ninth inning on a Charlie Valerio single, marking his third hit of the night, but the offense and the scoring for the contest would stop there. The Blue Crabs will look to turn things around and even up the series tomorrow following a 10-3 loss in a series opener with Lancaster.
The Blue Crabs will return home July 2nd, for the series opener of a three-game set against the York Revolution in the Monumental Fun Series, with a 6:35 p.m. first pitch.
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