Hassan Hits Walk-Off Homer in 4-3 Win

Portland, Maine-Alex Hassan showed why he was selected to the Eastern League All-Star Game Wednesday afternoon by blasting a walk-off home run giving the Sea Dogs a 4-3 victory over the New Britain Rock Cats before a crowd of 5,080 at Hadlock Field. The win earned a split of the four game series for the Sea Dogs who won their second straight game and improved to 27-49.

Tied at three in the ninth inning, Hassan launched a 1-2 pitch off Bruce Pugh (0-2) over the Maine Monster in left field for the heroics. It was Hassan's eighth home run and second in as many days. It was the first walk-off home run for the Sea Dogs since Mike Cameron delivered a 10th inning home run at Hadlock Field on May 23, 2010 against Trenton.

The Sea Dogs got three straight singles by Tony Thomas, Tim Federowicz, and Reynaldo Rodriguez to start the second inning which led to two runs as Portland took a 2-0 lead.

New Britain tied the game with a Chris Parmelee RBI ground out and an Evan Bigley RBI single in the third.

Ryan Khoury broke the tie with a RBI single in the fifth scoring Mitch Dening for a 3-2 Portland lead.

The Twins affiliate would tie the game at three in the seventh when Mike Hollimon scored on a Chris Hermann double to left field.

Chris Balcom-Miller pitched 6.1 strong innings for Portland allowing three runs on four hits. He matched a team season high with nine strikeouts. Brock Huntzinger also recorded nine strikeouts on June 21st against Trenton.

Blake Maxwell (1-1) is credited with the win yielding one hit in 2.2 innings of work. He struck out four. Combined Maxwell and Balcom-Miller tied a team season high with 13 punch outs.

Hassan was the only Sea Dog with a multiple hit game with a 2-for-3 performance, raising his average to .327.

The Portland Sea Dogs will host the New Hampshire Fisher Cats for a four game series starting Thursday at 7:00 PM at Hadlock Field. Right-handed pitcher Stolmy Pimentel (0-8, 9.20) will start for Portland. New Hampshire will send righty Robert Ray (0-1, 6.48) to the mound. Thursday is Goodwill Night at the ballpark; fans are encouraged to bring donations to the ballpark. Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling the Sea Dogs Ticket Office at 207-879-9500 or online at www.seadogs.com.