Sweet's quality start, potent offense lead to 7-2 win

CHARLESTON, W. Va. (August 3, 2019) - Devin Sweet notched his fourth straight quality start and Bobby Honeyman drove in three runs in the Power's 7-2 win over the Rome Braves Saturday night at Appalachian Power Park.
West Virginia (20-22, 57-55) got the scoring started in the first inning when Matt Sanders cranked his second homer of the season off Odalvi Javier (3-8), a solo shot that gave the Power a 1-0 lead. The rally continued later in the frame, as Julio Rodriguez singled his way aboard and Honeyman worked a walk that pushed Rodriguez to second base. Two batters later, Jake Anchia stroked a base hit to score Rodriguez and extend the lead to 2-0.

Sweet (6-4) was dominant early with five strikeouts and faced the minimum through the first three innings, but ran into some issues in the fourth. Justin Dean led off the inning for Rome (20-22, 50-61) with a solo home run to left-center, while Braden Shewmake homered a couple batters later to tie the game at two.
West Virginia answered in the bottom of the stanza, as two walks and a Sanders single loaded the bases with no one out. After Rodriguez flew out to shallow right field, Honeyman worked another walk that scored Manny Pazos from third and handed the Power a 3-2 lead. Austin Shenton added to the lead with a roped single to left that plated a pair of runs and stretched the lead to 5-2.
Sweet settled down after the Shewmake longball and fanned the next three batters en route to two more scoreless innings and his fourth straight quality start. He finished with six innings of work, surrendering just three hits and striking out nine batters. Over his last four outings, the 22-year-old has tallied 28 innings and gave up seven earned runs, good for a 2.25 ERA, with 36 strikeouts. In the bottom of the sixth, West Virginia loaded the bases again with no one out and Honeyman delivered with a scorched single to center that put the Power ahead 6-2.
Logan Rinehart entered in the seventh and tossed two shutout frames with just two hits allowed on 19 pitches. Ryan Ramiz walked to lead off the eighth for West Virginia and came around to score later in the inning on another RBI single from Honeyman, his third RBI of the game. Dayeison Arias came on in the ninth inning and fanned the first two batters he faced before inducing a pop out from Griffin Benson to close out a 7-2 win in the series opener.
The Power continues their four-game series with the Rome Braves Sunday afternoon at Appalachian Power Park, with first pitch set for 2:05 p.m. RHP Evan Johnson  (0-1, 3.77 ERA) gets the ball for West Virginia, while Greensboro sends southpaw Dilmer Mejia (5-2, 2.70 ERA) to the bump. Pregame coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. on The Jock 1300 and 1340 AM, as well as online at wvpower.com and via the TuneIn Radio App and MiLB First Pitch App.
West Virginia continues their homestand with another Kidz Sunday Fun Day at Appalachian Power Park. Kids 12 and younger can run the bases after the final out, courtesy of the SMART529 College Savings Program, as well as play catch in the outfield before the game. Select Power players will also be available for postgame autographs. Also, members of the Sheetz Power Kidz Club can get free tickets courtesy of Sheetz. All Kidz Sunday Fundays are presented by Shawnee Park Foundation.  For tickets and more information, call the Power at 304-344-2287 or visit www.wvpower.com.