Blue Rocks Falls Short In 5-4 Nail-Bitter

The Wilmington Blue Rocks (48-55) sat through an hour and 20 minute rain delay but couldn’t come out with the win against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws (56-48), dropping the second game of this six-game set by a score of 5-4 on Wednesday night at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium.

Despite the long-awaited start, it didn’t take long for the two teams to crack the scoreboard. The BlueClaws jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first after an RBI single from Emaarion Boyd scored Hendry Mendez from second, but the Blue Rocks responded with three of their own in the bottom half of the frame.

After the first three batters reached, Jared McKenzie singled home Phillip Glasser to tie it at one and advance everyone up a base. Murphy Stehly then brought Robert Hassell III home with a 4-5 fielder’s choice and later, McKenzie came around to score after BlueClaws’ shortstop Aidan Miller dropped a fly ball.

The BlueClaws jumped back in front in the third thanks to a four-run inning. Mendez got it started with a seven-pitch at-bat that ended in a walk and then Keaton Anthony followed suit with a single and Boyd was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Bryson Ware tripled into the right-center field gap to clear the bases and record his first hit at the High-A level and later scored after Troy Scheffler grounded into a 6-3 fielder’s choice to give the BlueClaws a 5-3 lead.

Stehly provided the game’s final margin after ripping an RBI single up the middle in the fifth to score McKenzie from second for his second RBI of the day.

Robert Hassell III went 1-3 with a run scored in his first game back with Wilmington under his rehab assignment, while Jared McKenzie led the offense with three hits and two runs scored and Murphy Stehly drove in two. Jose Atencio picks up the loss after allowing five runs (four earned) in five innings of work.

Keaton Anthony and Luis Caicuto led Jersey Shore with two hits each, while Bryson Ware led the team in RBIs with three.

The two teams will square off again on Thursday, August 8 with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Jersey Shore currently leads the series 2-0.