Cook, Pitching Are Bowie's Recipe For Success In Thursday Win Over New Hampshire
BOX SCORE BOWIE, MD – Behind three home runs, including a pair from the red hot Billy Cook, and a phenomenal collective pitching performance, the Bowie Baysox picked up a comfortable 6-1 win over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats on Thursday night. Bowie did briefly fall behind in the early
BOWIE, MD – Behind three home runs, including a pair from the red hot Billy Cook, and a phenomenal collective pitching performance, the Bowie Baysox picked up a comfortable 6-1 win over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats on Thursday night.
Bowie did briefly fall behind in the early stages. New Hampshire loaded the bases on right-handed starter Trace Bright on a pair of walks and a single. Bright would collect a strikeout before allowing an RBI single to Will Robertson, opening the scoring to make it 1-0 Fisher Cats.
Cook quickly equalized for the Baysox. After hitting a walk-off home run in extra innings each of the past two nights, the Baysox home run leader hit his 22nd long ball of the season on an opposite field shot to right field, tying the game in the bottom half of the third. Bright would complete four frames on the mound for Bowie, before handing the ball off to right-hander Houston Roth, who worked a perfect top of the fifth.
The long ball once again played for the Baysox against Fisher Cats right-handed starter Chad Dallas (L, 7-3) in the bottom of the fifth. Gilbert Lara led off the frame with a line drive solo home run to left field on the first pitch he saw. His second long ball with Bowie in 2023 gave the Baysox a 2-1 edge. The lineup card then turned over for Cook, who remained red hot at the plate, drilling an opposite-field home run off Dallas for the second time on the night, extending the lead to 3-1.
Roth (W, 7-3) continued to cruise for Bowie, sitting down the first nine batters he faced overall. The right-hander finished with 3.1 innings of hitless, shutout ball, allowing just one walk and striking out a pair.
The bats continued to back the collective work of the Baysox arms. Cook singled in the seventh for his third hit of the night before being plated on a Dylan Beavers RBI triple. Beavers later scampered home on a wild pitch to stretch the Bowie lead to 5-1. In the eighth, back-to-back doubles from Silas Ardoin and Donta’ Williams added on the sixth run of the evening for the Baysox, as right-hander Kade Strowd collected the final five outs on the mound for Bowie, including four strikeouts. In total, the three arms combined to allow just four hits on Thursday night.
The Baysox picked up their third-consecutive win on Thursday, improving to 33-27 in the second half, within striking distance of a playoff spot in the Southwest division. Bowie will look to hunt for its fourth-successive win against New Hampshire on Friday, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. from Prince George’s Stadium.