Sea Dogs Earn 3-1 Win in Series Finale at New Britain
After a scoreless first inning, Portland first baseman Reynaldo Rodriguez powered the first pitch from B.J. Hermsen over the wall in left for a solo homerun and gave the Sea Dogs a 1-0 lead, in the second. The righty regrouped and retired the next three in order to finish the inning.
The Rock Cats scratched a run across in the fourth inning to tie the game at 1-1. With two down, Chris Colabello doubled off of Portland starter Billy Buckner and scored on an RBI single by Aaron Hicks.
Tied 1-1 in the sixth, the Sea Dogs manufactured a run to take the lead for good. Jeremy Hazelbaker hit a leadoff double to right, tagged and moved to third on a fly out to right field, and Juan Carlos Linares hit a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Hazelbaker from third.
In the home half of the sixth, Pedro Florimon led off with a single, stole second, but was stranded at third after the Portland righty struck out the next three New Britain hitters to end the inning. Buckner (1-2) finished his outing with the six innings, and allowed the one run on five hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out eight.
Portland notched another run in the seventh when Zach Gentile hit an RBI double with two outs that scored Oscar Tejeda from second.
Hermsen (0-1) was responsible for all three Sea Dogs' runs, and finished his outing after six and one-third innings. He allowed the three runs, all earned, on five hits, he walked one, and struck out five in his second career Double-A start.
Aaron Kurcz and Charle Rosario came on in relief of Buckner and delivered three innings of scoreless baseball to close out the win for the Sea Dogs.
Prime Motor Group Player of the Game: Billy Buckner 6IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 8K, W
The Sea Dogs return home to Hadlock Field and will host the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the first game of a three game series tomorrow night at 6:00 PM. Portland will send right-handed pitcher Chris Balcom-Miller (1-2, 6.20) to the mound. New Hampshire will counter with righty Randy Boone (0-0, ---). The Sea Dogs can be heard on the U.S. Cellular Sea Dogs radio network with 95.5/95.9 FM WPEI serving as the flagship station.
Tickets can be ordered by calling the Sea Dogs Ticket Office at 207-879-9500 or online at www.seadogs.com