Bowie Struggles To Contain Harrisburg In Sunday Afternoon Stumble

BOX SCORE

BOWIE, MD – Despite 10 runs from a collective 17 hits, including three hits and three RBI from Donta’ Williams, the Bowie Baysox yielding a season-high 14 runs and five home runs in a 14-10 losing effort against the Harrisburg Senators on Sunday afternoon.

The wild back-and-forth affair broke in Bowie’s favor early. The Baysox ambushed Senators’ starter Michael Cuevas with a four-run bottom of the first inning. Seven of the first eight Bowie batters reached base, as Heston Kjerstad singled to lead off the frame, followed by a one out base hit from Cesar Prieto. Both runners would come home to score on a double from Hudson Haskin to give the Baysox a 2-0 edge. The onslaught would continue with a single from John Rhodes, before the first base knock of the afternoon from Williams knocked in Haskin to extend the lead to 3-0. Noelberth Romero would walk just prior to Anthony Servideo knocking in Bowie’s fourth run of the opening frame, but a base running miscue stalled the momentum, as Romero attempted to go first-to-third on the hit after Williams had already stopped at third base. The misplay led to Williams being tug out for the second out, as a Randy Florentino groundout then concluded the frame.

Following a scoreless first inning for Baysox right-handed starter Garrett Stallings, the Senators took a much more aggressive approach into the second. Both James Wood and Donovan Casey would reach to start the frame via a double and single respectively, leading to a three-run home run from Frankie Tostado that quickly closed the gap to a 4-3 Baysox edge. Stallings would allow another pair of base runners in the second, but stranded the tying runner at second with a strikeout. The right-hander would go four frames, with deep counts limiting his outing and running up his pitch count to 76. He allowed just those three runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

An RBI double from Coby Mayo in the fourth inning chased Cuevas from the contest through just 3.2 innings and increased Bowie’s lead back to 5-3. Danger struck for the Baysox in the top half of the fifth, where right-hander Peter Van Loon entered the game for Stallings. Van Loon would strike out the first two batters he faced, before running into a buzzsaw. Wood launched his second home run at Double-A to make it a 5-4 Bowie advantage. From there, things continued to spiral.

Still with two outs, a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases for Brady Lindsly, who hooked a full count offering just inside the right field pole for a grand slam. Harrisburg’s third home run of the afternoon flipped the script and gave the Senators an 8-5 lead. Van Loon (L, 0-3) would be lifted after recording just two outs, allowing the five runs, all of which were earned, on three hits.

The Harrisburg lead would only grow in the sixth inning, with three more runs crossing the plate against right-hander Kade Strowd, on a pair of RBI doubles from JT Arruda and Blake Rutherford, along with a run-scoring groundout from Casey. That gave the Senators an 11-5 edge. Meanwhile, the Bowie bats had fallen silent to the tune of 2.1 scoreless frames from left-hander Garvin Alston (W, 2-2).

The Baysox, however, would not go down quietly. Bowie put together a five-run inning of its own in the seventh. Williams walloped a two-run double after a John Rhodes RBI single. Servideo plated another with a double of his own, before Kjerstad bounced an RBI single through the infield to cut it back to just a one-run deficit at 11-10.

Despite the fight from the offense, the Senators had the answer in the top half of the eighth. In a second inning of relief for right-hander Wandisson Charles, Harrisburg clobbered two more home runs – first a solo blast courtesy of Rutherford, and later a two-run shot from Casey. That gave Harrisburg the 14-10 cushion it needed to finish out the afternoon.

The loss drops Bowie’s record to 18-31 on the season, as the Baysox have dropped four of six to the Senators this week. Bowie will be off on Monday before starting up a six-game series in Erie against the SeaWolves, Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. ET from UPMC Park.