POWER CRUISE TO 10-6 WIN OVER SHOREBIRDS

‘Birds Fall to 1-5 on Current Road Swing

Charleston, WV – The West Virginia Power plated eight unanswered runs in the middle part of the game to down the Delmarva Shorebirds 10-6 at Appalachian Power Park on Tuesday night. The Shorebirds have dropped four in a row. Steve Bumbry paced the ‘Birds attack with three hits.

T.J. Baxter vaulted the ‘Birds to an early 1-0 lead. On a 3-2 pitch from Kyle McPherson in the first inning, Baxter launched a home run over the right-center field wall. It was his sixth homer of the season.

In the second, the Power tied the game at 1-1. Rogelio Noris lined a one out single to left field. He then stole second to get into scoring position. With two outs, Bengie Gonzalez hit a single into right field to score Noris.

The Power took their first lead of the night in the third. Jarek Cunningham hit a lead off triple that sailed over the head of Mikey Planeta in center field. Two batters later, Aaron Baker hit a fly ball to deep left field to plate Cunningham.

The Shorebird knotted the affair in the fourth. Kieron Pope led off with a solo homer that flew over the left-center field wall. It was his sixth homer of the season.

In the fifth inning, the Power regained the lead. Evan Chambers ignited the inning with a single up the middle. Then, Aaron Baker hit a double to straight away center to score Chambers. Jose Hernandez followed with a single to move Baker to third. Then, Ramon Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Power a 4-2 lead.

The Power widened the gap in the sixth inning. West Virginia sent 10 batters to the plate and recorded five hits and four runs against relief pitcher Tom Phelps. The big hit was a two-run double by Evan Chambers.

West Virginia tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning to build a 10-2 lead.

The ‘Birds fought back in the eighth inning against relief pitcher Melkin Laureano. Jason Dalles got the rally going with a double to the left field line. Garabez Rosa then drew a walk. After a groundout by Baxter, Kelly hit an RBI single. The Shorebirds plated their next three runs in the frame on three wild pitches by Laureano to close the gap to 10-6

RHP Kyle McPherson earned the win in five innings pitched. He allowed three hits and two runs. Ryan Kelly threw two scoreless innings and Maurice Bankston earned in the save in the final 1.1 innings.

Shorebirds starter Jesse Beal was pinned with loss in five innings. He allowed eight hits and four runs.

The Shorebirds and Power meet for game three of the series on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m.