Bowie Suffers More Sorrow in Second-Straight One-Run Loss

AKRON, OH – Normally a strong team in one-run games, the Bowie Baysox were dealt their second-consecutive one-run loss on Friday night. The Akron RubberDucks once again used a late-game home run to push ahead of Bowie, leading to a 6-5 final. Bowie led 3-0 and 5-4 at different points, but they could not hold either lead for a single inning.

Unlike the first three games of the series, Friday started scoreless through the first four frames. Akron’s Doug Nikhazy was on a roller coaster of a start, using only strikeouts to collect his first nine outs, while still walking four total batters. Bowie grabbed a lead against Nikhazy in the fifth inning after back-to-back singles forced a pitching change. Silas Ardoin and Greg Cullen drove in three runs against reliever Bradley Hanner with a pair of two-out singles, as Cullen’s drove in two runs.

With Bowie up 3-0, they hoped to get a scoreless fifth inning from Trace Bright, who had opened his second Double-A start with four scoreless frames. Those hopes were quickly dashed as Bright allowed a two-run home run to Korey Holland, the second batter of the inning. After a hit-by-pitch and error, Josh Naylor tied the game with a single, and Juan Brito pushed Akron ahead with a sacrifice fly.

Each side was held scoreless in the sixth inning, but Bowie rebounded in the seventh against Hanner when Ardoin clubbed a game-tying solo home run, his second of the season. Akron nearly retook the lead in the bottom of the frame when Houston Roth allowed two singles and a walk, but Billy Cook started an inning-ending double play by throwing out the go-ahead run at the plate on s single to right field.

Bowie took the lead again in the eighth inning against Erik Sabrowski (W, 4-0), as they drew three-consecutive two-out walks, with Jud Fabian bringing in a run with his free pass.

Once again, the Bowie lead was extremely short-lived. After Houston Roth worked around three baserunners in the seventh inning, the right-hander walked the first batter of the eighth before allowing Aaron Bracho to hit a go-ahead two-run home run. It was the team-leading 17^th home run that Roth (L, 6-3) had allowed on the year.

After being pushed right back into a deficit, Bowie went down in order offensively in the ninth inning against Franco Aleman (Sv, 5)

The loss drops Bowie to 60-64 on the season. On their 12-game road trip, Bowie is now 4-6 in ten games. They will turn their attention to Saturday night at Canal Park for the continuation of the series, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.