Middle Surge Powers WV Over 'Birds

CHARLESTON, WV - The Delmarva Shorebirds dropped the opener of their final series of the first half, falling 8-2 to the West Virginia Power on Friday night at Appalachian Power Park.
Max Kranick (1-3) earned his first win of the season for the Power (36-29), scattering three hits over five scoreless innings and striking out six. DL Hall (0-5) took the loss for the Shorebirds (34-31), giving up a run on four hits in four innings.
West Virginia pounced on Hall early. Oniel Cruz led off the bottom of the first with a single and took second on a wild pitch. Rodolfo Castro followed with a single to right, plating Cruz to make it 1-0. Hall settled in from there, though, striking out three in a row to follow and dancing out of trouble during the rest of his outing.
Lolo Sanchez led off the home half of the fifth with a single, and Cruz took his place at first on a fielder's choice. After a strikeout, Deon Stafford drew a walk and Ben Bengtson took a pitch off the shoulderblades to load the bases. Brett Pope then poked a soft liner into right center for a base hit, scoring Cruz and Stafford to make it 3-0 Power.
The Shorebirds broke up the shutout in the top of the seventh. Mason McCoy legged out a one-out infield single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After a groundout, Zach Jarrett appeared to go around on a two-out check swing but was ruled to have held up just in time. Given a second chance, Jarrett laced a liner into left center for a single to bring in McCoy and get Delmarva back within 3-1.
The momentum was short-lived, though, as the Power responded with three in their half of the seventh. Castro led off with a ground-rule double and went to third on a Stafford single. After a walk and a force at the plate, Chris Sharpe banged a double that wedged between the wall and warning track in left. All three runners came around to score, and even though Sharpe was thrown out trying to take third on a throw, he received a hero's welcome on his trip back to the dugout; his bases-clearing double put West Virginia up 6-1.
The Power tacked on two more in the bottom of the eighth on a Sanchez RBI double and Castro run-scoring groundout. Delmarva peeled one off in the ninth on a two-out RBI double from Seamus Curran.
Jarrett finished 3-for-5 with a double and RBI to lead the Shorebirds, while Ben Breazeale went 3-for-4 with a pair of two-sackers. McCoy went 2-for-5 with two runs.
Sanchez led the way for the Power from the nine-hole, going 3-for-4 with a double, run, and RBI. Cruz singled twice and scored twice, while Castro went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
Delmarva out-hit the Power 11-10 but went just 1-for-11 with men in scoring position, eventually leaving 13 runners on base.
The loss locks the Shorebirds into fourth place in the SAL Northern Division for the first half of the season. West Virginia can finish no lower than third.
The Shorebirds play their penultimate game before the All-Star Break on Saturday night against the Power. Scott Burke (1-2, 6.06) is set to start for Delmarva against West Virginia's Domingo Robles (4-4, 3.18). First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m., and pregame coverage on Fox Sports 960 AM and the MiLB First Pitch app begins at 5:50 with Will DeBoer on the call.