Hagerstown, MD - Armond Upshaw led the Hagerstown Suns with three hits in their 6-0 shut out win against the Columbia Fireflies Thursday night at Historic Municipal Stadium. The Suns are 7-13 in the second half and are 34-54 overall and will play the rubber match of the three-game series
Hagerstown, MD - Armond Upshaw led the Hagerstown Suns with three hits in their 6-0 shut out win against the Columbia Fireflies Thursday night at Historic Municipal Stadium. The Suns are 7-13 in the second half and are 34-54 overall and will play the rubber match of the three-game series on Friday night with a 7:05 PM first pitch.
The Suns scored first in the second inning against Fireflies starter Tony Dibrell. Jake Scudder led off with a single and with one out Nick Choruby singled to right field to put runners at the corners with one out. Alex Flores grounded into a fielder's choice and Scudder scored from third to give Hagerstown a 1-0 advantage.
The Suns added to the lead in the third inning with Dibrell still on the mound for the Fireflies. Upshaw bunted for a single and went to third when Dibrell made an errant throw at first on the play. Yasel Antuna singled to left field to score Upshaw and increase the lead to 2-0.
Hagerstown tacked on two runs in the fifth inning against Dibrell. Upshaw led off with a double and Paul Panaccione grounded a ball to shortstop Edgardo Fermin who made an errant throw to third that allowed Upshaw to score and give the Suns a 3-0 lead. Panaccione advanced to third on an errant pick-off throw by Dibrell and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cole Freeman to extend the Suns lead 4-0.
Hagerstown added two more runs in the seventh inning against Columbia reliever Trent Johnson. With one out Kameron Esthay belted a 369-foot home run to right, increasing the lead to 5-0. Upshaw singled up the middle and Panaccione singled to right field with Upshaw running on the pitch to put runners at the corners with one out. Freeman reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Upshaw to make it 6-0. Frankie Bartow recorded the final six outs of the game, allowing a double in the ninth, to give the Suns a shutout win.
Andrew Lee (3-2) spun five shutout innings and allowed two hits with a walk and struck out one batter in a win. Sam Held pitched two innings with no hits, no runs, and a strikeout. Frankie Bartow entered in relief for the last two innings, allowing one hit and striking out two to preserve the shutout for the Suns on Thursday night.
Notes: Upshaw logged his eighth multi-hit game… It was his first three-hit game of the season… His three runs ties a season high for runs scored in a game by a Suns player… It's also a career-high for Upshaw… Scudder increased his hit-streak to four games… Choruby extended his hit-streak to five games… Freeman recorded his fourth multi-RBI game of the season… He also reached base for the fifth straight game… Esthay hit his team-high eighth home run… The Suns shutout is the their first since a 1-0 win at Delmarva on July 5… July 4 and 5 are also the last time Hagerstown followed a shutout loss with a shutout win against Delmarva… Hagerstown is now 13-25 in games they have a four-plus run lead… The Suns are 6-5 in the month of July… Hagerstown is outscoring opponents in July 47-42…Hagerstown and Columbia will play the series finale on Friday night… First pitch will be at 7:05 PM… It's Zombie Day at Historic Municipal Stadium… Fans can meet Kent Wagner and Jeremy Ambler from AMC's hit show The Walking Dead… There will be a zombie makeup station… Fans can join in on a "zombie crawl" around the bases following the game… The Suns will send RHP Jackson Tetreault (3-7, 4.54 ERA) to the mound against Fireflies RHP Zac Grotz (1-2, 5.76 ERA)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:50 PM on www.hagerstownsuns.com by going to multimedia and "Listen Live"... The broadcast is also available on the Hagerstown Suns Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio App.
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