The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs opened the North Division Championship Series with a victory in game one over the Lancaster Barnstormers, 2-1. Daryl Thompson (W, 1-0) led the way for Southern Maryland, allowing only one run on three hits in the process. Meanwhile, the Blue Crabs notched nine hits at the plate in the victory on Tuesday.
Daryl Thompson was outstanding on Tuesday evening, pitching eight and two-thirds innings in the victory over the Barnstormers. Thompson retired the first ten batters of the game before allowing a double to Melvin Mercedes. Thompson proceeded to retire the next ten batters and did not allow a run in the first eight innings of the ballgame.
The Blue Crabs and Barnstormers remained scoreless until the fifth inning. The Blue Crabs finally got to Lancaster’s starter, Oscar De La Cruz (L, 0-1), in the top of the fifth inning. With two outs, Ryan Haug hit a solo home run off the left-field foul pole, giving Southern Maryland a 1-0 edge.
That lead remained until the ninth inning when Southern Maryland struck again. Ryan Haug singled before Michael Baca knocked a base hit into center field. With runners on second and third, Jack Sundberg hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Haug and extending the Blue Crabs’ lead to 2-0.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, with a runner on first base and two outs, Andretty Cordero knocked an RBI double off the wall in right, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Endrys Briceno (Sv, 1) entered the game with a runner on second and two outs in the ninth inning, striking out Trayvon Robinson to end the game.
The Blue Crabs will look to take a 2-0 lead in the series at Clipper Magazine Stadium.
