Cunningham's Late Homer Leads Delmarva to Victory

Shorebirds Win Back-and-Forth Battle Against the Fireflies

Cunningham's Late Homer Leads Delmarva to Victory

*COLUMBIA, SC: *The Delmarva Shorebirds (24-30) began their series with the Columbia Fireflies (26-29) with one of their most exciting victories of the season as they topped the Kansas City Royals' affiliate 8-7 on Tuesday night.

After a nearly two-hour delay to start due to weather, the Shorebirds scored right away once the game began as Matthew Etzel drove home Enrique Bradfield Jr. on a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0 Delmarva after a half inning.

Columbia would quickly come back and tie the game in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Omar Hernandez to even the things at one apiece.

Stiven Acevedo then started the top of the second with a bang as he crushed his 11th homer of the season over the left field wall to give Delmarva a 2-1 edge.

The Fireflies' offense would rally again and this time they'd take the lead as they scored twice in the bottom of the second on a groundout by Lizandro Rodriguez and a sacrifice fly by Omar Hernandez to give Columbia a 3-2 lead after two frames.

But once again Delmarva would reclaim the lead as Jake Cunningham delivered a two-run single to score both Bradfield and Mac Horvath to put the Shorebirds ahead 4-3.

The lead would grow by two more runs in the top of the fourth on an RBI double by Angel Tejada and a wild pitch that scored him moments later after he got to third base, giving the Shorebirds their largest lead at 6-3.

The advantage would be trimmed down to one again as Columbia scored two runs on an RBI groundout by Jared Dickey and a balk with a runner at third to make it 6-5 after four innings.

The lead vanished for the Shorebirds in the sixth as Columbia scored twice with an RBI single by Dickey that tied the game, the go-ahead run scored moments later on a wild pitch to put Delmarva behind 7-6.

But the Shorebirds would have one final counterpunch in the top of the seventh. With Matthew Etzel on first, Jake Cunningham delivered for Delmarva as he blasted his first professional home run over the wall in right field to snatch the lead right back from Columbia. His two-run shot gave the Shorebirds an 8-7 advantage.

They would run into instant trouble in the bottom of the seventh, however, as the Fireflies loaded the bases with nobody out, but Kelvin LaRoche pulled off the impossible and got through the inning with nobody scoring as he produced a liner to left, a strikeout, and an infield pop-up to escape a major mess, securing an 8-7 win for Delmarva.

Ty Weatherly (1-0) picked up the win in relief with Kelvin LaRoche (1) earning his first save of the season. Reliever Chazz Martinez (6-7) was saddled with the loss for Columbia.

The Shorebirds will now go for a second-straight win on Wednesday night as Juan De Los Santos draws the start against Henry Williams for the Fireflies. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Box Score

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