Rosin Socks SeaWolves in Front of Record Crowd

READING, Pa.---In front of a record Opening Night crowd of 8,621 fans, starting pitcher Seth Rosin hurled six scoreless innings to lead the Reading Fightin Phils to a 3-1 victory over the Erie SeaWolves on Friday night. 

Rosin, who was acquired by Philadelphia last summer in exchange for Hunter Pence, retired the first 15 out of 16 batters he faced in his second start of the season. Through five innings, the Minnesota product only allowed one hit, a single to Brandon Douglas in the third inning. Rosin lasted a season-high six innings and fanned five batters in his first winning decision of the season. 

The Fightins offense took control of the game in the second inning after a fluky play. After hitters Jim Murphy and Sebastian Valle singled and Ronnie Welty walked to load the bases, third baseman Miguel Abreu hit a grounder that appeared to kick start a double play. But, Erie shortstop Hernan Perez made an errant throw to first base that saw both Murphy and Valle score for the Fightins.

Two innings later, Valle slammed his second home run of the year to left field , a solo shot, to score the Fightins  final run of the game. Last season, the catcher belted a career-high 17 home runs between his stints in Reading and Lehigh Valley (AAA). In his first multi-hit game of 2013, Valle also scored two runs. 

Reading's lead was threatened late in the game after Rosin exited. In the eighth inning, the SeaWolves loaded the bases on southpaw Jay Johnson. Right-handed pitcher Kyle Simon relieved Johnson and attempted to get out of the bases-loaded jam, but he hit Erie right fielder Jamie Johnson to break the Fightins' shutout.  After his hit-by-pitch, Simon buckled down and retired five of the next six batters he faced to pick up his second save of the season.

Second baseman Albert Cartwright was 3-for-4 with three singles from the leadoff position in the lineup. With his third multi-hit game of the season, the Bahamas native is now hitting .314 (11-for-35). 

Erie starter Warwick Saupold was effective in the losing decision. He allowed three runs (two earned runs) and seven hits while punching out eight Reading hitters.

The Fightins and SeaWolves continue their three-game series on Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. LHP Austin Wright (0-0-, 3.60 ERA) faces Erie's RHP Victor Larez (0-0, 1.80 ERA). Tune into 1340-WRAW or MiLB.tv for the game broadcast with Fightins play-by-play announcer Anthony Oppermann starting at 5:35 p.m.

Fightins Fillers: Opening Night guests included bronze medalist Allison Baver, jazz artist Gerald Veasley, Rich Ashburn Jr., and WEEU host Charlie Adams, who will celebrate his 7,000th show on Monday morning…Record crowd of 8,621 bests previous mark of 8,412 set in 2009…The Fightin Phils were welcomed to Baseballtown on field in front of hundreds of little leaguers from Liberty Youth Baseball.