Suns Sweep Shorebirds in Season Series Finale

Hagerstown, MD -   Omar Meregildo and Gage Canning both homered as the Hagerstown Suns earned their first sweep of the season in a doubleheader against the Delmarva Shorebirds on Thursday night at Historic Municipal Stadium. The Suns are 12-19 in the second half and 39-60 overall and will start a three-game series against the Lakewood BlueClaws with a 7:05 PM first pitch at First-Energy Park.

The Suns scored first in game one against Shorebirds starter DL Hall in the first inning. With two outs, Gage Canning belted his third home run of the season over the right-center field wall to give Hagerstown a 1-0 advantage. Neither team scored the rest of the game while the Shorebirds had one runner in scoring-position in the contest.
Alastre (4-5) spun six scoreless innings while allowing five hits with one walk and struck out five in a win. Frankie Bartow threw a scoreless seventh to preserve the 1-0 shutout.
The Shorebirds scored first in game two against Suns starter Sam Held. With two outs, Kirvin Moesquit doubled down the left-field line and Mason McCoy singled to left, plating Moesquit to give Delmarva a 1-0 lead.
The Suns scored four runs in the fourth inning against Shorebirds starter Cameron Bishop. Armond Upshaw led off with a bunt-single, advanced to second with a stolen base, and Cole Freeman reached on a bunt-single to put runners on the corners. With Canning at the plate, Upshaw scored on a passed ball to tie the game 1-1 with Freeman advancing to second on the play. With one out, Jake Scudder singled to right to put runners at the corners and Alex Dunlap hit a sacrifice fly to center, plating Freeman to take the lead 2-1. Omar Meregildo belted a 391-foot home run over the left field wall, scoring two runs to increase the lead 4-1.
Delmarva scored two runs in the fifth against Held in his last inning or work. Ben Breazeale singled to left, advanced to second base on a ground out to third, and Max Hogan reached on an error to put runners at the corners with one out. Moesquit grounded into a fielder's choice, plating Breazeale to make it a 4-2 Hagerstown lead. McCoy doubled to center, scoring Moesquit to bring the lead within one at 4-3.
 
Hagerstown added to their lead in the bottom of the sixth inning against Delmarva reliever Cameron Ming. Freeman reached on an infield single, moved to second on a groundout, and with two outs Dunlap singled to left to plate Freeman increasing the Suns lead to 5-3.
Held (3-5) pitched five innings while allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits with three strikeouts in a win. Jonatan German spun the last two innings giving up two hits and striking out two hitters, earning him his first save of the season and finishing the sweep for the Suns Thursday Night.
Notes: Canning logged his third home run of the season… It increased his hitting streak to four games… He also recorded his sixth multi-hit game of the season… Alastre earned his sixth quality start of the season… This is the 34^th quality start for the Suns starters this season… Hagerstown is now 12-18 in the first game of a series… The Suns are 4-7 while wearing their heathered jerseys at home… They are 7-18 overall while wearing the jerseys… Freeman logged his 15^th multi-hit game of the season… Dunlap recorded his second multi-RBI game of the season… Suns' manager Patrick Anderson was ejected for the fourth time this season… It was the first time he's been ejected at home… Meregildo's home run was his second of the season… It was also his third multi-RBI game of the season… The Suns are now 2-4-5 in double headers this season… Their sweep of the double header clinched their first sweep of the year… Hagerstown is 13-16 against left-handed starters… Held picked off his team-high fourth runner of the season… Held pitched a career-high five innings… Hagerstown will start a three-game series on Friday night at First Energy Park in Lakewood… First pitch will be at 7:05 PM… The Suns will send RHP Andrew Lee (3-2, 5.50 ERA) to the mound against a BlueClaws pitcher to be determined… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:50 PM on www.hagerstownsuns.com by going to multimedia tab and clicking on "Listen Live"... The broadcast is also available on the Hagerstown Suns Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio and MiLB First Pitch apps.
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