Stripers Ride Fast Offense, Strong Murphy Start to 6-4 Victory Over Norfolk

LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia – The Gwinnett Stripers (30-28) scored four runs over the first two innings to back starter Owen Murphy as they beat the Norfolk Tides (22-36) 6-4 on Tuesday night at Gwinnett Field. The Stripers broke a four-game losing streak.

Decisive Plays: Norfolk struck first on a two-run single by Johnathan Rodriguez in the first inning. Gwinnett quickly erased that 2-0 Tides’ lead with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Brett Wisely and Brewer Hicklen each drove in runs, and Hicklen stole home on the back end of a double steal to make it 3-2. The Stripers got RBI knocks from Jim Jarvis in the second and Wisely in the fourth to push the lead to 5-2. Norfolk kept it close with solo home runs from Creed Willems (12) and Luis Vasquez (1) in the sixth and seventh to make it 5-4. Rowdy Tellez provided insurance in the eighth by scoring Luke Williams with a one-out single, making it 6-4. Ian Hamilton (S, 3) struck out the side in the ninth.

Key Contributors: Tellez (3-for-4, RBI) and Jarvis (3-for-5, double, RBI) drove in runs for Gwinnett as Murphy (W, 3-3) worked through 5.0 innings (3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO). For Norfolk, Willems (2-for-4, homer, RBI) and Vazquez (1-for-4, homer, RBI) each went deep.

Noteworthy: The Stripers snapped a streak of consecutive losses in series openers. Joel Payamps worked his fifth straight scoreless outing. Murphy recorded his third straight start of 5.0-plus innings with five-or-more strikeouts and two-or-less earned runs. Jarvis tallied his third three-hit effort in his last four games.

Next Game (Wednesday, June 3): Gwinnett Stripers vs. Norfolk Tides, 12:05 p.m. ET at Gwinnett Field. It's Camp Day and Wet Nose Wednesday. Radio Broadcast: 11:50 p.m. on MyCountry993.com. TV Broadcast: 12:00 p.m. on Peachtree Sports Network. Live Video Stream: Bally Sports Live.