Mondesi's Big Night Leads Blue Rocks To 3-1 Victory In Frederick

Frederick, MD - Raul Mondesi went 3-for-5 and homered for the second straight night, leading the Blue Rocks to a 3-1 victory Saturday over the Frederick Keys. With the win, Wilmington's second in a row, the Rocks improved to 22-24 in the second half and to 55-59 overall. The Blue Crew sits in third place in the CL North, five games behind the first-place Potomac Nationals and two games behind the Lynchburg Hillcats for a chance to play in the postseason.

Logan Davis' RBI bunt single in the seventh inning broke a 1-1 deadlock and pushed the Blue Rocks ahead for good. Wilmington scored twice in the frame to take a 3-1 lead. Daniel Rockett kicked off the Blue Crew's rally with a one-out single off of reliever Matt Hobgood. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a single by Fred Ford. Davis' RBI bunt single sent Rockett plateward and Ford to second. Mondesi followed with an RBI single to center, scoring Ford.

Until the seventh inning, the only offense for either side had come in the opening frame.

Raul Mondesi put the Blue Rocks ahead, 1-0 in the top of the first with a solo home run. The long ball was Mondesi's second in as many nights and the 19-year-old's fourth of the campaign.

Frederick shortstop Adrian Marin answered his counterpart with a solo blast of his own in the home half of the first, his fifth of the year, to even the score at 1-1. Like Mondesi, Marin also left the yard during Friday night's series opener.

Both starting pitchers were excellent. Johnny Walter threw three solid innings for Wilmington in his first professional start. He gave up just one run on four hits. Sebastian Vader hurled six fantastic frames for Frederick and yielded just one run on four hits.

Aroni Nina (3-1, 4.53) earned the win for Wilmington with 2.1 shutout innings of relief. Hobgood (3-4, 5.01) suffered the loss for Frederick after giving up two runs on six hits in two frames out of the Keys' bullpen. Kyle Bartsch picked up his third save of the year with 1.1 scoreless innings to close the contest.

The Rocks return to action on Sunday afternoon at Harry Grove Stadium in Frederick for the series finale against the Keys. Southpaw Jonathan Dziedzic (5-6, 2.42) will take the mound for Wilmington. Frederick will counter with righty Mark Blackmar (6-1, 3.34). First pitch is slated for 2:00 p.m. and fans can listen to the broadcast on 89.7 WGLS-FM.

The Blue Rocks will next play at Frawley Stadium on Tuesday, when the Keys pay a visit to Wilmington. For tickets, call 302-888-BLUE.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Raul Mondesi turned in his best game as a member of the Blue Crew on Saturday, finishing the night 3-for-5 with a homer, a double and two RBIs. He fell just a triple shy of the cycle. It was Mondesi's second consecutive outstanding night at the plate. He was 2-for-5 with two runs, a homer, a triple and three RBIs in Friday night's series opener. Prior to Friday, the 19-year-old shortstop had been mired in a 1-for-22 slump over his previous six games. During that stretch, he struck out seven times and walked only once. After batting .304 in 20 games during the month of April, Mondesi has had a rough time at the plate. He hit.171 in May, .179 in June and .215 in July. Mondesi is currently batting .207 in seven August contests. The switch hitter has batted .240 from the right side of the plate and .208 from the left side. Overall this season, Mondesi owns a .217 batting average. He has 44 runs, 12 doubles, nine triples, four homers, 25 RBIs and 19 walks in 88 games.

Logan Davis went 2-for-4 on Saturday with an RBI bunt single, recording his first multi-hit game and his first RBI with the Blue Rocks. Davis is batting .286 in six games with Wilmington. He now has at least one hit in five of the six games he has appeared in for the Rocks. Davis has also scored two runs. The left-handed hitting infielder has racked up a lot of frequent-flier miles this season, as he has spent time with four different Minor League affiliates. Aside from Wilmington, Davis has spent time with Rookie-Level Idaho Falls, Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha. During his two stints with Idaho Falls - one in June and one in July - Davis batted .214 in five games. During his two stays - one in May and one in July - with Northwest Arkansas, Davis went 1-for-11 at the plate. He also hit .294 (5-for-17) during a brief five-game stop with Triple-A Omaha at the end of June and Early July. Davis is the son of former Kansas City Royals pitcher Mark Davis, who won the 1989 NL Cy Young Award with the San Diego Padres and is currently the pitching coach with Rookie-Level Idaho Falls

Johnny Walter was solid in his first professional start on Saturday against Frederick. Walter tossed three innings and yielded just one run on four hits. He did not record a strikeout, walk a batter or factor in the decision. Though he had not made a start in the professional ranks, Walter was very familiar with the role. During his three seasons at Penn State University, 35 of Walter's 48 career appearances were starts. Following his sophomore campaign, when he went 6-4 with a 3.19 ERA in 15 starts, Walter was named third-team All-Big Ten. Though it wasn't a start, his best outing of the 2014 campaign was a lengthier appearance than his start Saturday. On July 2 at Frawley Stadium against the Potomac Nationals, Walter worked 4.1 shutout frames and yielded just a single base hit. He fanned six and did not walk a batter that night. Prior to Saturday, Walter had made 64 relief appearances as a pro. In three professional seasons, Walter is 9-3 with a 2.83 ERA in 64 relief appearances. Overall this season, Walter is 5-1 with a 3.81 ERA in 25 appearances (one start). He has punched out 36, walked 16 and yielded up 51 hits in 49.2 innings pitched. Once Walter departed the contest, Tripp Davis made his 2014 Blue Rocks debut. He threw 2.1 shutout innings of relief and gave up just three hits. Davis struck out three and did not issue a walk. He began the year with Low-A Lexington, where he went 2-2 with a 4.95 ERA in 16 appearances (two starts) for the Legends.

Zane Evans stayed hot on Saturday and delivered a pair of hits for the Blue Rocks. The right-handed hitting backstop finished the evening 2-for-4 at the plate with a double. On Friday, Evans hit a crucial three-run homer in the first inning that gave the Blue Rocks the lead for good. Evans went through a rough patch offensively during the middle of the campaign. He batted just .187 in May, .235 in June and .185 in July. However, since the calendar turned to August, Evans has taken great strides offensively. He is batting .273 for the month with two runs, two doubles, two homers and six RBIs. Evans has at least one hit in six of the eight games he has played in August. He also has hits in eight of his last 10 contests. Overall this year, Evans is batting .232 with 28 runs, 20 doubles, four homers and 30 RBIs.

THEY SAID IT:

Manager Darryl Kennedy:

"It was good to see [Raul Mondesi] continue swinging the bat well tonight. I thought the most impressive at-bat was the two-strike, two-out RBI single to left-center. From the left side, he tends to get a little pull-happy and it was nice to see him stay through the ball and drive a ball to left-center. It was a big win for us."

"When Fred Ford got that single, I knew it was hit hard. The first thing I thought in my mind was who was on-deck. We had runners at first and third and one out and I had total confidence in Logan [Davis] getting that bunt down and it was a perfect safety squeeze."

"We went into today and we knew what we were going to have to do is piece together our bullpen. We were hoping to get as much out of Johnny [Walter] without taxing him. After he finished that third inning, I thought that was enough. Steve [Luebber] and I both thought it was enough. Tripp Davis, coming off of the DL in Lexington, hadn't pitched in like 13 days. We weren't sure what we were going to get out of him so we kind of took that same approach of get as much as we could without taxing him. I thought Aroni Nina did a great job coming in and getting Davis out of the jam in the sixth inning and he put together two more great innings for us. [Kyle] Bartsch came in with a great save. It was a group effort from the pitching staff. I thought they did an outstanding job."

"The best thing we've got going right now, the way [Kyle] Bartsch is throwing the ball, the way [Daniel] Stumpf is throwing the ball, it really gives us a two-headed monster down there and the way those two have been throwing the ball, it's been lights out. It's nice to have those two guys down there and we can use them accordingly and not tax either one of them. I know there were times when, Peterson we went to a lot. It's nice to have both of those guys throwing the ball well."

Shortstop Raul Mondesi:

"I feel good. I never put my head down. I always work every day in the cage and during BP. I just try to work hard every day to get better."

"I don't worry about my age. It doesn't matter if I'm 18 or 19. I'm here because the team trusts me, so I try to do the best I can to help the team win. Those couple of things that I can do to help the team win I'm going to do."

"I feel more comfortable as a lefty. Righty is my natural [side]. I'm [right-handed] naturally. They kind of feel the same but I like [hitting as a] lefty more."

"I've been facing a lot of pitchers that are right-handed. That's why I maybe feel better as a lefty."

"It was a fastball [Friday]. [Saturday] it was a fastball, too."

"We're playing to win. We want the playoffs. We're doing the best, everybody, playing as a team."

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