Kowar Does Not Allow Hit as Rocks Win Second Straight

Wilmington, DE - Jackson Kowar tossed five no-hit innings in his Blue Rocks debut and Nick Pratto provided a two-out, two-run double in the sixth as Wilmington beat the Salem Red Sox 2-1 on Sunday at Frawley Stadium. The victory was the Blue Crew's second straight and salvaged the home team a split in their season-opening four-game series.

Kowar was brilliant despite not factoring in the decision. He did not allow a ball out of the infield until the ninth batter of the game and no runner made it to scoring position against him. He allowed just two walks-one in the fourth and one in the fifth-while fanning six. Of his 83 pitches, the 2018 first-round pick threw 53 for strikes.
Unfortunately for the Rocks, Salem starter Enmanuel DeJesus (0-1) matched him pitch for pitch through five frames. Wilmington's offense finally got to the lefty in the sixth, however. Marten Gasparini opened the frame with a single. He was at second two outs later when the Sox elected to intentionally walk Brewer Hicklen to face Pratto. They then went to their bullpen for southpaw Dominic LoBrutto. Pratto made them pay for the decision by sneaking a double into left that plated a pair and put Wilmington ahead to stay.
Collin Snider (1-0) posted goose eggs in the sixth and seventh inning to earn his first win as a Blue Rock. Salem did get on the board on a Tyler Zuber wild pitch in the eighth, but Zuber closed the door to pick up his first save of the year.
Wilmington welcomes the Winston-Salem Dash to town on Monday for the first of a three-game series at Frawley Stadium. Southpaw Daniel Tillow makes his first start of the season for the Blue Rocks, while the Dash counters with former Blue Rock Kyle Kubat. First pitch is slated for 6:35 p.m. and tickets are available at BlueRocks.com.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
The Rocks offense has been a quality over quantity attack so far on the young season. Wilmington has scored all of its runs during this brief two-game winning streak with two outs in an inning. Still, the Blue Crew has managed only 13 total hits over the first four contests and has not scored more than two runs in a game yet. As a team, Wilmington is hitting just .126-far and away the worst batting average of any club in the Carolina League. Luckily for the Rocks the last three contests have all been low scoring, with each being decided by the score of 2-1.
In a rotation with four former first-round picks and a third-round top-30 prospect, it is ironic that the first two wins for Wilmington have come courtesy of the bullpen. J.C. Cloney got the Rocks a victory on Saturday in a spot start during game two of their doubleheader thanks to five frames of one-run ball. The Blue Crew then got two scoreless innings of relief from Collin Snyder on Sunday. Wilmington's 'pen is also 2-for-2 in save tries with Tad Ratliff earning one on Saturday and Tyler Zuber notching another in the series finale. In the highly touted rotation's defense the combo of Jackson Kowar, Brady Singer and Daniel Lynch have allowed runs in just two of the combined 13 innings they hit the hill during the season's opening weekend.
www.bluerocks.com