All Nine RidgeYaks Record a Hit in 15-9 Outburst Over Warbirds

SALEM, Va. – The Salem RidgeYaks (52-65, 27-25) built a nine-run lead, weathered a six-run rally from the Wilson Warbirds (62-54, 26-24) and answered late to secure a 15-9 victory Saturday night at Carilion Clinic Field.

Salem collected 15 hits and scored in six different innings, using a balanced offensive attack with hits from all nine players to take a commanding lead before holding off Wilson's comeback attempt.

Josue Brito got the RidgeYaks on the board in the bottom of the first, doubling to right field to score Kleyver Salazar.

Salem added another run in the second when D'Angelo Ortiz reached on a fielding error by Wilson third baseman Frederi Montero, allowing Andrews Opata to score and putting the RidgeYaks ahead 2-0.

Heading into the middle of the third, weather took over the area and the game was placed in a weather delay for the next hour and 48 minutes.

Salem starter Sadbiel Delzine didn’t return after the lengthy delay as the started went three innings scoreless limiting the Warbirds to just one hit.

After the delay, Wilson answered with two runs in the fourth, but Salem responded with a four-run bottom half to regain control.

Andruw Musett started the rally with an RBI double, scoring Avinson Pinto. Martin Shelar followed with a run-scoring single before Colton Coates delivered the biggest hit of the inning, tripling to center field to score D'Angelo Ortiz and Shelar.

The four-run frame pushed Salem's lead to 6-2.

After Wilson trimmed the deficit to 6-3 in the fifth, the RidgeYaks erupted for six runs in the bottom half.

Opata delivered a two-run double to score Brito and Louis Andujar before Pinto followed with an RBI single to bring home Opata. Musett then tripled to left field, scoring Pinto, and came home on an RBI groundout from Ortiz.

Coates capped the inning with an RBI single that scored Shelar, giving Salem a 12-3 advantage.

The Warbirds responded with six runs in the top of the sixth.

Frederi Montero opened the scoring with a two-run double before Kyle Jones drew a bases-loaded walk. Brailyn Antunez then delivered the biggest blow of the inning with a three-run bases clearing double, cutting Salem's lead to 12-9.

The RidgeYaks immediately answered.

Pinto singled to center field in the bottom of the sixth, allowing Opata to score and pushing Salem's advantage back to four runs at 13-9.

Salem added two insurance runs in the eighth when Ortiz lined a single to center, scoring Andujar and Pinto to make it 15-9.

The RidgeYaks finished with 15 hits and 14 RBIs while committing no errors. Opata and Pinto each recorded two hits and scored three runs, while both drove in two runs.

Coates went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, while Musett finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Shelar also collected two hits and scored twice. Ortiz added three RBIs.

On the mound, Alex Kranzler earned his first win of the season in his professional debut after allowing three runs on two hits over 1.2 innings. He struck out three and walked one.

Salem's bullpen also received a strong outing from Williams Rodriguez, who worked three scoreless innings with two hits allowed and two strikeouts.

Anderson Fermin came out for his first pitching performance of his career and retired the final two batters off seven pitches to seal the deal.

Wilson finished with 12 hits but committed five errors in the contest. Rylan Mills made three errors as the backstop and Montero had the other two at second base.

With the win, Salem clinches at least a share of the six-game series and goes for the series outright on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m.at Carilion Clinic Field as Jose Bello makes the start for the Yaks.

Game Notes

• Salem snapped a two-game losing skid and won their first game since Wednesday night
• Salem scored 15 runs off of 15 hits with their third double digit scoring game of the week
• The Yaks have now scored 59 runs over the five games this week, that is the most runs Salem has scored in a six-game series since the six-game series were adapted in 2021
• All nine Yaks recorded a hit for the second time this week
• Six players saw double digit efforts
• Martin Shelar went 2-for-5 with his first career multi-hit effort
• Colton Coates also hit his first career triple with a career high three RBI
• Salem has now scored 15+ runs in four games this season with three of the four coming against the Warbirds
• The RidgeYaks have scored 162 runs in 23 meetings with the Warbirds this season, averaging 7.04 runs per game against the Birds
• With the win and Fayetteville postponement, the Yaks sit 4.0 games out of first place with 14 games to play
• Alex Kranzler made his professional debut and recorded his first career win
• Wuilliams Rodriguez went three scoreless innings for his fifth straight outing without allowing an earned run
• Over his last seven outings since July 18, Rodriguez has thrown 12.2 innings allowing just 11 hits and two earned runs pitching to a .234 batting average against and impressive 1.42 ERA over his last seven
• The RidgeYaks lead all of Single-A this week with 59 runs, a .352 batting average and 63 hits over five games. The Yaks are also hitting 28-for-68 (.412) with runners in scoring position this week
• Anderson Fermin made his first career pitching performance as he retired the final two outs to seal the victory
• The one hour and 48 minute rain delay is the longest rain delay Salem has seen this season, it also marked the first time all season the Yaks saw a rain delay during the game and resumed the game
• Salem’s other eight rain delays have come either as delayed starts (six) or completed early after five innings (two)
• Louis Andujar reached base for the 18^th straight game since July 22
• Andrews Opata went 2-for-4 to tie his season high with a nine-game hitting streak since August 8
• Opata has also reached base in 15 straight games since July 30
• Josue Brito went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to six games since August 15
• Salem moves to 7-3 in home games in the month of August and has taken at least a share of the six-game set against Wilson
• The ballgame ended at 11:18 p.m., the latest any game as ended for the Yaks this season

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