Hagerstown, MD - Gage Canning tied a career-high with three hits as the Hagerstown Suns scored a season-high 14 runs in a 14-2 victory over the Lakewood BlueClaws at Historic Municipal Stadium on Friday night. The Suns improve to 9-18 in the second half and 36-59 overall with the third
Hagerstown, MD - Gage Canning tied a career-high with three hits as the Hagerstown Suns scored a season-high 14 runs in a 14-2 victory over the Lakewood BlueClaws at Historic Municipal Stadium on Friday night. The Suns improve to 9-18 in the second half and 36-59 overall with the third game of the series set for a 6:05 PM first pitch on Saturday.
The BlueClaws scored in the opening inning against Suns starter Malvin Pena. With one out, Simon Muzziotti bunted for a single and Jhailyn Ortiz singled to left-center to put runners on the corners. Jake Scheiner lifted a sacrifice fly to center field, plating Muzziotti to take a 1-0 lead.
The Suns answered with five runs in the bottom half of the first inning against Lakewood starter Damon Jones. Armond Upshaw led off with a single to center field and Cole Freeman bunted to third moving Upshaw to second with one out. With two outs, Alex Dunlap doubled off the center field wall, scoring Upshaw to tie the game 1-1. Nick Choruby, Omar Meregildo, and Juan Pascal worked walks that forced Dunlap home to take a 2-1 lead. Choruby scored on a wild pitch and Kameron Esthay singled to right, plating Meregildo and Pascal to increase the Hagerstown lead to 5-1.
The Suns tacked on five more runs in the second inning against Jones and BlueClaws reliever Ismael Cabrera. Upshaw led off with a walk, Freeman doubled off the center field wall, and Gage Canning singled to right to score Upshaw and increase the lead to 6-1 with runners at the corners. Cabrera entered from the bullpen and walked Dunlap to load the bases. Nick Choruby singled to right field, plating Freeman to extend the lead to 7-1. With one out, Pascal singled to score Canning making it an 8-1 Hagerstown lead and, with two outs, Paul Panaccione singled to center field scoring Dunlap and Choruby to make it 10-1.
Hagerstown added to their lead in the third against Cabrera in his last inning of work. Canning led off with a 364-foot home run over the right-center field fence increasing the Suns lead to 11-1. Dunlap worked a walk, advanced to second base on a passed ball, and with one out Meregildo doubled off the left field wall to score Dunlap and make it 12-1.
The Suns tacked on another run in the bottom half of the fifth inning against BlueClaws reliever Luis Cedeno after Lakewood scored in the top of the frame. Dunlap led off with a single to right field, Choruby reached on an error, and Merigildo walked to load the bases. Pascal grounded into a fielder's choice, plating Dunlap to increase the Hagerstown lead to 13-2. The Suns scored one more run in the seventh inning against Lakewood reliever Tyler Fallwell. Choruby led off with a walk, Meregildo singled to left field, both runners advanced on a wild pitch to put runners on second and third with no outs. With one out Esthay flew out to left field, scoring Choruby to make it 14-2.
Pena (2-0) pitched a season-high six innings, allowed two runs (one earned), on six hits, struck out six and walked on in a win on Friday night. Carlos Pena came out of the bullpen, spun two innings of one-hit ball while striking out four. Connor Zwetsch pitched the ninth inning allowing one hit and striking out one batter to preserve the win for the Suns.
Notes: Hagerstown set a season-high with 14 runs… Pena's six innings is a new career-high and his six strikeouts are a season-high… Pena had his first quality start of the season… Hagerstown has 28 as a team… Friday was the first time since July 1 that the Suns scored 10 or more runs in a game… Every Suns hitter had at least one hit… Hagerstown sent 20 batters to the plate over the first two innings… They tied a season-high with nine walks… Upshaw has a seven-game hit streak… Choruby extended his on base streak to 11 games… Freeman has a seven-game hit streak… Esthay had his fifth multi-RBI game of the year… His three RBIs ties a season high and it's the fourth time he's done it this year… Panaccione had his third multi-RBI game of the year… Canning had his third multi-RBI game of the year… His three hits ties a career-high… Meregildo had his sixth multi-hit game… Dunlap had his second multi-hit game… Pascal tied his career-high with three RBIs… Hagerstown and Lakewood will play the third game of a four-game series on Friday night… First pitch will be at 6:05 PM… The Suns will send RHP Brigham Hill (1-3, 4.56 ERA) to the mound against BlueClaws RHP Andrew Brown (4-1, 2.03 ERA)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 5:50 PM on www.hagerstownsuns.com by going to multimedia tab and clicking on "Listen Live"... The broadcast is also available on the Hagerstown Suns Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio and MiLB First Pitch apps.
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