Rays Split Doubleheader; Suero Records Stellar Outing

Princeton, WV-- The preconceived thought going into Sunday's 1:00 p.m. home doubleheader with the Burlington Royals was that 19-year old Princeton Rays' starter Blake Snell would keep winning and then Bruedlin Suero would falter as he had in previous starts. But it was quite the opposite on a sunny afternoon in Princeton as Blake Snell lost game one, 2-0, and Bruedlin Suero won game 2, 3-1.

In game one of the July 15 twinbill, Snell wasn't really the one to blame for a poor showing, it was instead the Rays' bats which went cold after a nice offensive series in Danville. Burlington also used their offensive power to their advantage, utilizing their big bats to take advantage of the seldom chances to score off of Snell.

Burlington's Fred Ford hit his fourth home run of the season in the top of the second inning giving the Royals an early 1-0 lead.

In the fourth inning, Kenny DieKroeger slammed his sixth run of the season extending the lead to 2 runs for a Burlington team that hadn't played since July 8 because of successive rain delays.

The two home runs allowed by Snell in his sixth start were his first two round trippers surrendered on the season, as the Royals only needed those two shots to earn the victory over Princeton.

Snell's ERA went up to 0.99 and he suffered his first loss of the season, altering his win-loss record to 3-1. In the game he went four and two-thirds innings allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts.

Game two was vastly different for a P-Rays squad looking to advance for a healthy winning record. Bruedlin Suero, who came in with a 0-3 record, got the start against a stacked Royals lineup.

After throwing two consecutive scoreless frames to start the game, the Princeton offense finally scored a run after Willie Argo walked and scored on a single up the middle by first baseman John Alexander.

Amid a tied game in the fifth inning, Princeton put together a solid offensive showing after Omar Narvaez and Andrew Toles had two straight singles plating Brandon Martin. Darryl George followed with a sacrifice fly and his team leading 16th RBI, giving Princeton a two-run cushion.

Those runs would end up shutting the door on the Princeton Rays' 14th victory of the season after reliever Jon Weaver showcased his best stuff so far this season to get his first professional save in two shutout innings in which he fanned 2 batters.

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