Asheville Ekes Out 5-3 Win

Asheville, NC - The Delmarva Shorebirds fell to 1-2 on the season after losing to the Asheville Tourists, 5-3 on Saturday night. Asheville never trailed after scoring three runs in the second inning, and the Tourists' bullpen threw 3.1 scoreless innings in the win.

Mitch Horacek made his Shorebirds' debut, and the left-handed starter found trouble in the second inning. Asheville loaded the bases after two singles and a hit-by-pitch. Horacek struck out Alec Merhten, but he could not retire Zach Osborne to escape the jam. Instead, the Tourists' shortstop ripped a bases-clearing double in the left field corner to give Asheville a 3-0 lead.

The Tourists added another in the fourth off Horacek to pad their lead. Michael Benjamin brought home Jordan Patterson on a sacrifice fly to right.

Delmarva cut into the Tourists' lead with a big sixth inning, but they could not find the key hit to push them over the top. The inning started with an infield single by Lorenzo, walk to Yastrzemski and an RBI single by Mancini. An error allowed Conor Bierfeldt to reach on a grounder to short. After singles by Kemp and Wynns, three runs were in with the bases loaded and just one out. Tourists' starter Antonio Senzatela struck out Josh Hart, and then Asheville went to the bullpen to end the rally. Logan Norris took one pitch to get a flyout from Anthony Caronia.

Preserving a 4-3 lead, the Tourists responded immediately in the bottom of the sixth. Correlle Prime launched a solo home run to right-center, the first of the season for Asheville. The insurance run made it 5-3 in favor of the Tourists.

Asheville relied on its bullpen to shut down the Shorebirds in the later innings. Logan Norris, Trent Daniel, and Dylan Stamey combined for 3.1 shutout innings in relief. Between Daniel and Stamey, the Toursits' bullpen struck out the final six batters of the game.

Antonio Senzatela (1-0) earned the victory for Asheville, while Horacek (0-1) settled for the defeat. Stamey recorded his first save of the season. Dennis Torres pitched well out of the Delmarva bullpen, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings in his first outing of 2014.

The series concludes on Sunday afternoon as right-hander Sebastian Vader (0-0, 0.00) will make his Shorebirds' debut against righty Alex Balog (0-0. 0.00) for the Tourists. First pitch at McCormick Field is at 2:05 pm on Sunday.