Suns Top Grasshoppers on 4th of July

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (July 4, 2017) - Suns starting pitcher James Bourque earned his third consecutive win and A.J. Bogucki picked up his first save in the South Atlantic League with three scoreless innings as Hagerstown bested the Greensboro Grasshoppers in a 5-1 victory on Independence Day at Municipal Stadium.
The Suns (10-3, 48-34) opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. Daniel Johnson led off with a single to bump his hitting streak to 11 games and later scored from second base on a two-out RBI double by Jakson Reetz .
Bourque (Win, 4-3) struck out five of the first nine batters he faced before he allowed an infield single to Eric Gutierrez on a tricky grounder back to the mound that scored Brian Miller from third and tied the game, 1-1.
Hagerstown took the lead again in the bottom of the fourth against Greensboro starter Dylan Lee (Loss, 3-9). A two-out rally began with an infield single by Nick Banks before Anderson Franco and Telmito Agustin tallied back-to-back RBI doubles to give the Suns a 3-1 cushion.
Bourque wiggled out of trouble in a scoreless fifth inning. With Grasshoppers on second and third, Suns second baseman Tyler Beckwith fielded a ground ball and made an aggressive throw home that led to a rundown between second and third base for the second out. Moments later, with runners at second and third again, a pitch bounced away from the catcher, Reetz, but Bourque came forward to cover the plate and applied the inning-ending tag on Aaron Knapp to preserve the 3-1 lead for Hagerstown.
The Grasshoppers (6-7, 43-38) never closed the gap as Bourque exited after six innings with one earned run on seven hits, no walks, and six strikeouts. Hagerstown added insurance in the eighth inning. With Aldrem Corredor at second and two outs, Reetz grounded to short, but Luis Pintor missed the throw to first and Corredor pounced on the mistake by racing around to score. Banks followed with a line shot to the fence in right-center field to score Reetz from first and gave the Suns a 5-1 advantage.
Banks finished with the only multi-hit game for the Suns after a 2-for-4 day the plate, an RBI, and a run scored.
Bogucki began the seventh and retired eight batters in a row. The Grasshoppers slapped two infield singles with two outs in the ninth but Bogucki ended the game with a fly out and picked up the second save of his career and first since last August with the Auburn Doubledays in the New York-Penn League. The 22-year-old from Norristown, Pennsylvania finished three shutout frames with two hits, no walks, and a strikeout.
The Suns are undefeated at home on Independence Day since the 2007 season and they've won 10 of the last 13 home games in 2017.
On Wednesday, the Suns and Grasshoppers meet again in the second of three games at Hagerstown Municipal Stadium this week. Left-handed All-Star Tyler Watson (5-2, 3.36) goes to the mound first at 7:05 p.m. and Greensboro matches with righty Kolton Mahoney (2-1, 4.21). For tickets, call 301-791-6266 or visit hagerstownsuns.com.