Bounced: Power fall 1-0 in rubber game

(Lakewood Township, NJ- July 24, 2015)- The West Virginia Power were shutout 1-0 by the Lakewood BlueClaws Friday evening at FirstEnergy Park. The BlueClaws scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the eighth and blanked the Power for the second time in the three-game series.

Each starting pitcher was sharp and neither allowed a run. For Lakewood, Elniery Garcia allowed three hits and walked one through six complete. West Virginia's Stephen Tarpley surrendered four hits and struck out seven over six and two-thirds. Sam Street took over for Tarpley in the seventh with a runner at second and two outs, but induced a fly out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, Deivi Grullon reached on an error and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two down, Herlis Rodriguez singled to left to drive in Grullon. The Power committed two more errors in the inning, but the BlueClaws stranded a pair and took a 1-0 advantage heading into the ninth.

Matt Hockenberry allowed a two-out single in the ninth inning to Pablo Reyes, but Elvis Escobar grounded into a fielder's choice to end the game.

Street (3-1) took the loss while Calvin Rayburn (3-1) earned the win. Hockenberry's save was his ninth of the season. Cole Tucker paced the West Virginia offense with two of the team's five hits in the loss. 

West Virginia travels to Hagerstown to open a four game set on Saturday evening. Yeudy Garcia, the South Atlantic League's earned run average leader, will start the series opener for the Power against the Suns' Brian Rauh.