Suns Win 4-3 in Late Comeback Against Charleston Saturday

Charleston, SC - Brigham Hill set a new career-high with eight strikeouts in a no-decision as the Hagerstown Suns defeated the Charleston RiverDogs 4-3 thanks to a late comeback on Saturday night at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Ballpark. The Suns improve to 44-69 overall with a second half record of 17-28 and will play the third game of the series on Sunday with a 5:05 PM first pitch.
Charleston broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning against Suns starter Hill. Mitchell Hansen led off with a triple to center and David Metzgar triple to right on the second pitch of his at-bat, driving home Hansen to make it a 1-0 game.

The RiverDogs extended their lead by a run in the fourth with Hill still on the bump. Wefrin Mateo singled to center and stole second with no outs. Chris Hess triple to center with one out, scoring Mateo to give Charleston a 2-0 advantage.
Hagerstown tied the ballgame in the sixth against RiverDogs starter Roansy Contreras. Nick Choruby led off with a single and went to second when Armand Upshaw walked. With one out, Choruby and Upshaw executed a double steal to put runners at second and third with Choruby scoring when Gage Canning grounded out to second, making it a 2-1 ballgame. Upshaw went to third on the play, but Jake Scudder singled to right, plating Upshaw to tie the game at 2-2.
Charleston took the lead back in the seventh against Suns reliever Sam Held. With two outs Oswaldo Cabrera doubled to left and Dermis Garcia singled to left, scoring Cabrera and giving the RiverDogs a 3-2 lead.
Hagerstown rallied in the eighth and the ninth to overtake the RiverDogs against relievers Austin DeCarr and Daniel Alvarez. In the eighth Choruby walked with one out and stole second to put the tying run in scoring position for the Suns. DeCarr struck out Upshaw for the second out of the inning but was pulled from the game with Alvarez entering out of the bullpen only to yield a double to Freeman that scored Choruby to tie the game, 3-3. In the ninth, Alex Dunlap was hit by a pitch and went to second when Omar Meregildo was walked. Kameron Esthay singled to center, scoring Dunlap and giving the Suns their first lead of the game, 4-3.
In the bottom of the inning, Canning saved what would have been the game-tying run with Frankie Bartow on the mound for the Suns. With one out Carlos Vidal doubled to right and Cabrera singled to right. Vidal tried to score on the play, but Canning fired the ball home from the outfield in time to retire Vidal for the second out of the inning. Bartow struck out Garcia looking for the final out of the ballgame, giving the Suns a 4-3 win to snap a four-game losing streak.
Hill lasted five innings while allowing two runs on six hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. Sam Held pitched two innings out of the bullpen while allowing one run on three hits. Bartow (2-2) earned the win after throwing the final two innings without allowing a run with two hits and three strikeouts.
Notes: Hill's eight strikeouts is a new career-high… His previous high was seven which he sent on August 20, 2017 against Kannapolis… Choruby has a three-game hitting streak… He also had his sixth multi-hit game of the season… Scudder extended his hitting streak to four games… Freeman has a seven-game hit streak… Esthay has two hits in each of his last three games… He's also got a five-game hitting streak… The Suns are 11-6 overall and 5-3 on the road on Saturdays… Hagerstown is 14-16 in one-run games… Saturday was their 13^th win of the season when the opponent scores first… It's also the Suns 13^th win when they're outhit by their opponent… The Suns and RiverDogs continue their series on Sunday with the third game of a four-game set and a first pitch of 5:05 PM… Hagerstown will send RHP Andrew Lee (3-2, 4.37 ERA) to the mound against Charleston LHP Reiver Sanmartin (2-4, 4.09 ERA).
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