(Central Islip, NY, July 27th, 2021) In a back-and-forth series opener at Fairfield Properties Ballpark on Tuesday evening, the Blue Crabs kept their chances at an Atlantic League North Division First-Half title alive. Southern Maryland picked up a crucial 7-6 victory on Tuesday night.
The Blue Crabs fed off their power in the series opener, using a trio of homers to propel a 7-6 win. The scoring started immediately when David Harris launched a moonshot three-run home run to center field in the first inning.
With Daryl Thompson (W, 6-2) on the mound, the Ducks trimmed Southern Maryland’s early lead to a single run in the bottom of the first and scored another five over the next four innings. Despite giving up six runs over six innings, Thompson exited with a lead.
The former Toronto Blue Jays prospect, Harris, hit yet another homer in the fifth inning, his tenth of the season, to knot the game up at four apiece. Joe DeLuca kept the power surge flowing, smacking a three-run shot of his own in the seventh inning. The trio of seventh-inning runs gave the Crabs a 7-6 advantage, one the stellar Southern Maryland bullpen intended to keep.
In the bottom of the ninth, after allowing a pair of runners on with no outs, and runners at second and third with one out, Mat Latos (S, 11) locked down. First, a line drive bounced off of Latos’s body, but Kent Blackstone corralled the ricochet off a bounce and fired home to gun down Steve Lombardozzi at the plate. Next, Latos forced another groundout to Blackstone to lock up a victory.
Tuesday’s one run, 7-6 victory marks the fifth straight game between the Blue Crabs and the Ducks that has been decided by one run. On Wednesday, Southern Maryland will put Kolton Mahoney on the mound in an effort to win their first series against the Ducks in 2021.