Banks and Meregildo Lead Suns to 12-6 Victory

Hagerstown, MD -  Nick Banks and Omar Meregildo were both a triple shy of hitting for the cycle as the Hagerstown Suns defeated the Columbia Fireflies 12-6 on Saturday night at Historic Municipal Stadium. The Suns improve to 27-40 overall and will face the Fireflies in the final game of the first half at 2:05 PM with Hagerstown looking for their first sweep of the season.

The Suns scored first in the opening inning against Fireflies starter Chris Viall. Yasel Antuna led off the inning with an infield single and moved to second base after a wild pitch. Cole Freeman forced a walk to put runners at first and second base. After Luis Garcia lined out, Banks singled to left, but Wuilmer Becerra threw Antuna out at the plate while Freeman moved to third to put runners at the corners. While Meregildo was at the plate, Banks stole second base to put runners at second and third. Freeman then scored on a wild pitch to give Hagerstown a 1-0 lead. Meregildo launched a two-run homerun to increase Sun's lead 3-0 and Jake Scudder rocketed a homerun of his own over the right-center field wall to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Suns continued to add runs in the second inning against Viall. Kameron Esthay worked a lead-off walk and Armond Upshaw singled to put runners on first and second with no outs. Antuna walked to load the bases and, after a strikeout, Garcia grounded into a fielder's choice to plate Esthay to enhance the lead 5-0. Banks crushed a three-run homerun with runners at the corners over the right-center field fence to break the game open, 8-0.
Columbia put a run on the board in the third inning against Suns starter Matt DeRosier. After DeRosier retired the first eight Fireflies batters in order, Hansel Moreno blasted a solo-homerun over the right field fence to cut into the Hagerstown lead 8-1.
The Suns added a run to their commanding lead in the third inning after the first two hitters were retired against Viall. Esthay belted his sixth homerun of the season over the right field wall to make it 9-1 game. The homer tied Esthay with Banks for the team lead in the category.
Hagerstown added three more runs in the fourth inning against the Fireflies reliever Darwin Ramos. With one out, Freeman walk for the second time and Garcia singled to put runners on first and second. Banks doubled down the left field line to plate both Freeman and Garcia to increase the lead to 11-1. Banks was plated on a two-out single to left by Scudder to enhance the lead 12-1.
Columbia added four total runs in the seventh and eighth innings against Suns reliever A.J. Bogucki to cut the lead to 12-5. The Fireflies added one more run against Phil Morse with a bases-loaded single by Scott Manea, and Edgardo Fermin lined into a game-ending double-play to give the Suns a 12-6 victory.
DeRosier (3-4) pitched six innings, gave up one run on three hits with one walk and a strike out while earning a quality start and the win. Bogucki pitched two innings, gave up four runs on seven hits and struck out two batters. Morse pitched the final inning and gave up an unearned run on three hits.
 
Notes: Hagerstown recorded a season-high 12 runs in Saturday night's game… The Suns tie their season high for most hits in a game with 16, which they set on May 3 against Greensboro…The two homeruns hit in the first inning tie a season-high for homeruns in an inning for Hagerstown which they did in game one of a double header on May 3 at Greensboro… The Suns launched four homeruns on Saturday night which is the new season high… Hagerstown matched their season-high of extra-base hits in a game with seven, which was set in a seven-inning game against Charleston on May 13… Garcia has 20 multi-hit games… Scudder has five multi-hit games… He has five multi-RBI games as well…Upshaw had his fifth multi-hit game this season…Banks has 15 multi-hit games, three of which are three-hit games…Banks had his fourth multi-RBI game this season tying a career high with five RBIs in one game…He also had five on May 3 at Greensboro… Banks tied a career-high in runs with three…Meregildo had his first multi-hit and multi-RBI effort of the season…The Suns hit back-to-back homers in the first inning for the first time since Banks and Garcia did it on May 1 at Greensboro… Hagerstown won their third straight game which ties the season high… DeRosier earned his fourth quality start of the season… The Suns scored more than 10 runs for the third time this year… Hagerstown will play the final game of the series and the first half on Sunday at Historic Municipal Stadium… Sunday afternoon is Superhero Day as fans can dress as their favorite fictional character… It's also Sunday Funday… Kids Club members can play catch on the field prior to Sunday's game… All kids can run the bases post game… First pitch will be at 2:05 PM… The Suns will send LHP Seth Romero (0-1, 9.53 ERA) while the Fireflies will counter with RHP Yeizo Campos (0-0, 1.02 ERA)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 1:50 PM on www.hagerstownsuns.com by going to multimedia and "Listen Live" which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Android... The broadcast is also available on the Hagerstown Suns Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio App.
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