The Blue Crabs’ pitchers allowed five total hits in tonight’s shutout victory, as Southern Maryland won 3-0. With tonight’s win, the Blue Crabs extend their franchise-record win streak to ten games.
The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs’ starter, Denson Hull (W, 1-0), pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and one walk. This was Denson Hull’s longest start of the year, as he transitions from a reliever into a starter.
The Blue Crabs struck first in the bottom of the third inning. Ryan Haug led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch from Augie Sylk (L, 0-1). With Haug leading off of second base, Sylk sailed a pickoff attempt into center field. LeDarious Clark, the center fielder, overran the ball, allowing Haug to come all the way around and score the game’s opening run.
In the fourth inning, the Blue Crabs extended their lead. Alex Crosby reached base via a hit by pitch with one out. Two batters later, Matt Hibbert hit a ground ball under shortstop Jake Hoover’s glove. The Blue Crabs executed a double steal with runners on first and second and two outs. Lancaster’s catcher, Anthony Peroni, threw the ball into left field, allowing Crosby to score. The next batter, Ryan Haug, ripped an RBI double into the left-center field gap, scoring Hibbert and giving the Blue Crabs a 3-0 lead.
Southern Maryland would hold that lead the rest of the way. The bullpen took over in the sixth inning and dominated again. Brandon Roney pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning, picking up two strikeouts along the way. Dalton Geekie also pitched a perfect seventh, adding a strikeout as well.
In the eighth inning, Endrys Briceno ran into trouble on the first pitch. Former Blue Crab, Connor Lien, belted a double down the third baseline. From there, Briceno pitched perfectly. After inducing a flyout to right field, Briceno earned back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning, with the Blue Crabs still leading 3-0.
In the ninth inning, Mat Latos (SV, 5) allowed a leadoff hit to center field. From there, the Blue Crabs’ closer sent down the Barnstromers’ batters in order via two flyouts and a popout.
The Blue Crabs look to extend their record-setting 10-game win streak tomorrow in game three against the Lancaster Barnstormers. Southern Maryland closes out their eight-game homestand tomorrow morning at 11 a.m for the first of two Baseball in Education days.
