Shorebirds Stumble in Greensboro:Delmarva Drops Two, Fall to Third Place in Divisional Race(Brendan Gulick on the call)

SHOREBIRDS STUMBLE IN GREENSBORO
Delmarva Drops Two, Fall to Third Place in Divisional Race

GREENSBORO, NC – The Shorebirds lost meaningful ground in the hunt for a Northern Division title on Friday night after falling 5-3 and 2-1 in a double-header sweep at the hands of the Greensboro Grasshoppers. The Shorebirds his three solo homers on the day, but couldn’t come up with a momentum defining play in front of more than 7,000 people at NewBridge Bank Park.

Actually, the day couldn’t have started any better. Cedric Mullins led off the first game with a 414 foot rocket over the right-center field fence to put the ‘Birds on the board. But Greensboro (28-27) answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning and Delmarva (30-23) never led again in either game. Aside from Mullins’ solo blast, the Shorebirds managed just once baserunner the rest of the time against Jordan Holloway.

DJ Stewart tacked an RBI to his season stat-line with a chopper on the infield in the sixth inning, and Steve Laurino launched his third homer of the year (all against Greensboro) to right field in the seventh. But Greensboro’s five-run outpouring in the first three innings against a wild Ofelky Peralta proved costly. Peralta took his second consecutive loss and fell to 2-3 on the year.

Francisco Jimenez probably deserved a little better than to lose his fifth game of the season in the second affair of the night. Jimenez battled through five innings and surrendered a sacrifice fly in the second and a RBI single in the third, but limited the damage to only those two runs over five innings. The Shorebirds couldn’t figure out Chuck Weaver, who didn’t allow a hit until Murphy’s two-out blast that barely cleared the wall in left-center. The only other hit he allowed was a botched defensive play in the sixth inning.

In the seventh against Scott Squier, Ademar Rifaela led off by doubling into the right field corner in a 2-1 game. But a one out fly ball to fairly shallow right field turned into disaster. Rifaela attempted to tag and go to third base, but he was thrown out for a game-ending double play. his head first dive may have beaten the throw on a close play, but he dove passed the bag and was tagged out to remove all doubt.

Delmarva’s two losses, coinciding with Hagerstown’s and Hickory’s wins, put the Shorebirds back in third place in the division with 16 games to play in the first half. They are 4.5 games out of first place.

The Shorebirds try to avoid being swept for the first time all season in the series finale tomorrow night. Brian Gonzalez takes the ball for the ‘Birds; last time he pitched in Greensboro, he struck out a career-high ten Grasshoppers. Brendan Gulick will have the broadcast for both games beginning with Shorebirds On-Deck at 6:45 pm on Fox Sports AM 960 and online at theshorebirds.com.

Delmarva Shorebirds
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The Delmarva Shorebirds are the Class “A” Affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The Shorebirds are owned by 7th Inning Stretch, LLC, the same company that owns the Stockton Ports of the California League and the Everett AquaSox of the Northwest League.

The Shorebirds celebrated their 20th season in 2015, and have entertained nearly five million fans since beginning play at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury, Md. in 1996. The team has captured South Atlantic League titles in 1997 and 2000 while successfully hosting the South Atlantic League All-Star Game in 1999 and 2011.

For more information on the Shorebirds, call 410-219-3112 or visit theshorebirds.com.