ZEBULON, N.C. - Cam Roegner struck out six over six scoreless innings, reliever Miguel Sanchez struck out four over two shutout frames and Chase Williams worked a scoreless ninth as the Mudcats shut out the Keys 5-0 on Monday night at Five County Stadium.
ZEBULON, N.C. - Cam Roegner struck out six over six scoreless innings, reliever Miguel Sanchez struck out four over two shutout frames and Chase Williams worked a scoreless ninth as the Mudcats shut out the Keys 5-0 on Monday night at Five County Stadium.
Luis Aviles Jr. Jr. and Ryan Aguilar each drove in two runs for the Mudcats (4-1) as they took their series opener against the Keys (3-2) and picked up their third straight victory overall. Carolina also got multi-hit games from Dallas Carroll and Max McDowell who went 3-for-5 and 2-for-3 respectively. In all the Mudcats totaled 11 hits and were 4-for-13 with runners in scoring position; stranding 13 runners on base.
Roegner (1-0, 0.00) scattered five hits, walked one and worked through a quality start in his first outing of the 2018 season. Sanchez followed him and pitched through a scoreless seventh and eighth before giving way to Williams who then pitched a perfect ninth en route to Carolina's second consecutive shutout victory.
Carolina led 1-0 after getting a run across in the second on a ball smashed to left by Aguilar that was misplayed by outfielder Cole Billingsley. The resulting error allowed Aviles to score from third after he had reached earlier in the inning on a walk issued by Keys' starter Brian Gonzalez.
Gonzalez (0-1, 1.93) pitched into the fifth and struck out eight in his season debut for the Keys. He left the game with two on and two outs in the fifth and with Frederick down just 1-0. Reliever Jhon Peluffo took over and went on to give up two hits and issued two walks while seeing the Mudcats rally for three in the inning. In all, Gonzalez allowed three runs (one earned) in his start, while Peluffo was charged with an unearned run allowed over two and 1/3 innings.
Aviles drove in two of Carolina's two runs in the fifth with a bases loaded, two-out, two-run single that extended the Carolina lead to 3-0. Aguilar later walked with the bags full in that same fifth inning to give the Mudcats a 4-0 advantage.
Frederick reliever Matt Trowbridge later worked the eighth and gave up a run scoring single to Tucker Neuhaus while seeing the Mudcats go up 5-0 in the game. Neuhaus was 1-for-5 in Monday's game, stretching his season opening hit streak to five straight games.
The Mudcats took a 1-0 lead in the three game series with Monday's victory and will look for their fourth straight win as the series continues on Tuesday night at Five County Stadium. Tuesday's game will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Zebulon and will feature RHP Ofelky Peralta starting for the Keys and RHP Braden Webb making his season debut for the Mudcats. The first pitch at Five County Stadium is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The game will air on the Mudcats Radio Network, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM and online at carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio. It will also stream via live video on MiLB.tv.
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