RICHMOND, VA --- Lefty Ryan Bollinger went a season-high eight innings allowing one unearned run to lead the Thunder to a 6-4 win over the Richmond Flying Squirrels on Saturday night at The Diamond.The Flying Squirrels managed just three hits and one walk against the Thunder starter across his eight
RICHMOND, VA --- Lefty Ryan Bollinger went a season-high eight innings allowing one unearned run to lead the Thunder to a 6-4 win over the Richmond Flying Squirrels on Saturday night at The Diamond.
The Flying Squirrels managed just three hits and one walk against the Thunder starter across his eight innings. They got their only run in the eighth inning when an error by second baseman Bruce Caldwell extended the frame and allowed Ronnie Jebavy to single in a run. Bollinger had strings of eight and 11 straight batters retired during his outing.
The Thunder broke through against Richmond starter Garrett Williams with a pair of runs in the fourth inning to take the early lead in support of their starter. Taking advantage of some wildness from the Flying Squirrels starter, Trenton loaded the bases with nobody out. Chace Numata plated the game's first run with a groundout to the shortstop. After Williams' fifth walk, the Squirrels turned to the bullpen and summoned Dan Slania. With two out, Abiatal Avelino beat out an infield single to score Caldwell and give the Thunder a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, Mandy Alvarez doubled to left-center off of Slania with one out in the frame. After a wild pitch allowed Alvarez to advance to third, Caldwell singled over a drawn-in infield to make it 3-0.
The Thunder extended their lead to 6-0 with three runs in the top of the eighth. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Trey Amburgey doubled in a pair with a shot to left-center. Abiatal Avelino followed him with a run-scoring groundout to score Gosuke Katoh and give the Thunder the commanding advantage.
Richmond staged a late rally with the unearned run off Bollinger in the eighth and three runs off of Andrew Schwaab in the ninth. However, Kaleb Ort entered with two out in the ninth inning and struck out KC Hobson with a man on third to secure the 6-4 win.
The Thunder offense collected a season-best 13 hits in the victory. Amburgey, Avelino, Alvarez, Caldwell and Numata each contributed two hits on Saturday night. Every batter except for Chris Gittens had a hit.
Your Thunder will try to salvage a split of the four-game series on Sunday afternoon at 1:05pm against the Flying Squirrels. RHP Brian Keller (2-2, 4.62) will start for the Thunder, RHP Chase Johnson (0-0, 0.00) will go for Richmond. Pre-game coverage begins at 1:50pm on 920 AM The Jersey and online www.TrentonThunder.com/Broadcast.
