BOWIE, MD — The Bowie Baysox stumbled to a 10-6 defeat on Sunday afternoon, failing to overcome an early disadvantage in their series finale against the Richmond Flying Squirrels. A spirited late rally wasn’t enough to salvage a victory for the Baysox as walks and early missteps resulted in an insurmountable lead for their rivals.
The Baysox found themselves in a precarious situation early on, largely due to control issues from right-handed starter Carlos Tavera. His day was over before the first inning ended, having managed only two outs. His erratic pitching led to four walks, three coming home to score, including two on a three-run homer from Carter Aldrete. Tavera’s problematic outing, capped by Richmond’s double steal to plate a fourth run, ended after a mere 35 pitches.
Tyler Burch, another right-hander, stepped up after Tavera’s exit. He also struggled with control, walking two batters in the third inning before giving up a run to a Hayden Cantrelle RBI single. The woes for the Baysox’s pitching staff continued with right-hander Houston Roth allowing a leadoff walk to score on a wild pitch in the fourth and three subsequent hits culminating in a two-run double from Shane Matheny in the fifth.
While Richmond’s offense ran rampant, Bowie’s bats were largely silenced. Despite some hard-hit balls in the early frames, right-handed starter Wil Jensen kept Bowie scoreless. The Baysox left runners stranded at third base in each of the first two innings before the Flying Squirrels introduced left-hander Nick Zwack to the mound. Zwack (W, 3-4) limited Bowie to just one unearned run on three hits across four innings, also managing five strikeouts.
For the Baysox, John Rhodes started the fourth inning with a double, eventually scoring on a throwing error by third baseman Jimmy Glowenke. Cesar Prieto added another highlight, scoring in the eighth after Glowenke committed another throwing error. Notably, Coby Mayo extended his on-base streak to 32 games, while Ramon Rodriguez launched his first home run of the season in the eighth, a three-run shot that reduced the deficit to 9-5.
Richmond added another run in the ninth as Matheny belted his second RBI double of the day. In response, the Baysox loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. Billy Cook’s walk forced in a run, but three subsequent outs squashed the hopes of a comeback, leaving the final score at 10-6 in favor of the Flying Squirrels.
With this loss, the Baysox’s record sinks to 27-35, pushing them back to the bottom of the Eastern League Southwest division standings. However, they did win four out of seven games this week against the Flying Squirrels and aim to carry this momentum into a seven-game series with the Curve in Altoona to conclude the first half of the season. The series will commence at People’s Natural Gas Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. ET on Tuesday.