Tromp, Prosinski Ship BlueClaws to 4-1 Win

LAKEWOOD, NJ - The Lakewood BlueClaws (25-36/51-77) were happy to welcome in the Delmarva Shorebirds (22-39/52-76) and greeted them with a 4-1 win, Friday night at FirstEnergy Park. The win marked the end of a two game losing streak and upped the season series to 14-8 in favor of Lakewood.

The game began as a pitchers duel with Jon Prosinski on the mound for the Claws and Juan Guzman for the Birds. The Skillman, NJ native, Prosinski (2-1) gave up a hit in each of his first three frames, but did not waiver and went on to deliver five scoreless innings in his seventh Sally League start.

Lakewood went in order over the first two innings, but began the scoring in the third. With one out, Chace Numata hit a single to right-center and was followed by the Aruban Jiandido Tromp. Tromp drove a Guzman (4-7) pitch to the right-centerfield gap for a double that scored Numata from first and put the BlueClaws up 1-0. 

After a scoreless fourth, the dynamic duo of Numata and Tromp plated the second run, in almost identical fashion. Numata again hit a single to right-center and Tromp followed with an extra-base hit, this time a triple off the wall with two down to score the catcher and double the Lakewood lead.

Prosinski finished five innings and gave way to Geoff Broussard in the sixth. Broussard gave up a leadoff double in the frame to Kris Richards, and the runner moved to third on a ground out to the following batter.

Richards scored the lone run for Hagerstown when Adrian Marin hit a high chopper to third that Willie Carmona couldn't handle for an RBI E5. Broussard regrouped and fought through another error behind him to keep the game in favor of Lakewood.

The heart of the Claws order was scheduled to hit off Guzman in the bottom of the inning, and took advantage of some shoddy Delmarva defense. J.P. Crawford hit a line drive to center that Gregory Lorenzo had in his glove, but dropped and put Crawford at second with nobody out.

Before Carmona saw a pitch, Crawford was checked on at second and the pitcher threw the ball into center and allowed the runner to move to third. Carmona got a pitch up and hit it to the corner in right-center for an RBI triple, his second three-bagger in as many nights and fourth of the year.

After Art Charles grounded out to second, Mickey Morandini put on the squeeze play with Brian Pointer and Carmona. With the pitch from Guzman, Carmona broke down the line, Pointer squared and bunted the ball up the first base line and the lead was upped to 4-1.

Broussard delivered a perfect seventh and Chris Burgess came on to polish off the win. The closer gave up a single and hit a batter in the eight, but Delmarva did not score. In the ninth, Creede Simpson hit a single, but was erased on the 6-4-3 double play.

With two down in the inning, Anthony Caronia and Chase Weems hit back-to-back singles to bring the tying run to the plate. Richards was next and Burgess put him away with three pitches, including a slider that the batter couldn't connect on, for the final out.

Prosinki's final line was five innings, in which he allowed three hits, no runs, no walks, and four strikeouts. Broussard and Burgess combined to allow just the one run over the final four frames.

Deborah Heart and Lung Center Player of the Game: Jiandido Tromp (LWD): 2-3, 2B, 3B, 2RBI

The BlueClaws and Shorebirds will continue their final series of the year with game two, Saturday night at 7:05 pm from FirstEnergy Park. Toms River, NJ native RHP Mark Leiter, Jr. (1-0, 0.00) gets the nod for Lakewood and will be matched up against RHP Luc Rennie (3-5, 4.40) of the Shorebirds.