Sea Dogs Rock the Rock Cats 11-2

PORTLAND, Maine - The Portland Sea Dogs (5-3) used two five-run innings and scored six of their runs with two outs in the 11-2 win over the New Britain Rock Cats (3-5), Friday night at Hadlock Field. The win marked the third in a row for the Sea Dogs, the longest streak of the young season. 

Portland wasted no time and jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning. Henry Ramos got the scoring going with a two out RBI double down the line in left that plated Shannon Wilkerson. 

The early rally continued when Travis Shaw scored on a wild pitch from New Britain's Taylor Rogers to make it 2-0. Blake Swihart followed and brought home the third run with a single before Stefan Welch kicked off his huge night with a 2-run single that made it 5-0 Portland. 

The Rock Cats responded with a run against Portland's Mickey Pena in the top of the second, but that was all they would muster against the southpaw. Former Sea Dog Reynaldo Rodriguez tagged a double to left and scored with two down on an RBI single by Kyle Knudson, which cut the deficit to 5-1. 

Portland increased the lead to 6-1 with another two-out knock in the fourth. Wilkerson singled off of Rogers (0-2), stole second and came around to score on an RBI double to right-center off the bat of Deven Marrero. 

Pena (1-0) went on to finish the fifth and left with a five run lead. The lefty gave up the one run on five hits; he walked two and struck out three before Robby Scott entered from the bullpen. 

The Sea Dogs finished off their night offensively and doubled the lead to 11-1 with another five-run frame in the seventh. After the first three reached, Henry Ramos hit an RBI single to move the runners 90 feet each and kept the bases loaded. 

Sean Coyle walked to bring in another run in front of the aforementioned Welch. The designated hitter took a B.J. Hermsen pitch and put it to the wall in center for a bases clearing double. The 3-run knock brought the lead to 11-1 and the RBI total for Welch to a Double-A high five RBI, something he has now done three times in his career. 

With the game in hand, Scott finished two and two-third innings without allowing a hit and striking out three. Miguel Celestino gave up a mammoth solo home run to Kennys Vargas in the ninth, but that was all in the four final outs. 

The Sea Dogs and New Britain Rock Cats return to Hadlock and square off in game three of the four-game series Saturday night at 1:00 PM. The Sea Dogs will send righty Mike Augliera (0-1, 6.00) to the mound against New Britain's RHP Matt Summers (0-1, 11.25). Radio coverage begins at 12:40 PM on the U.S. Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network and www.seadogs.com. Coverage on MiLB.TV kicks-off at 12:50PM. Tickets for all 2014 Sea Dogs home games are available and can be ordered by calling the Sea Dogs ticket office at 207-879-9500 or order online at www.seadogs.com.