Bats fly past Norfolk in series opener

DJ Stewart homered to lead Norfolk's seven-hit attack, but two early home runs from Louisville helped propel the Bats to a 4-2 win over the Tides Friday night at Harbor Park. 

The Bats wasted little time in taking the lead, as Josh VanMeter connected on a solo homer with one out in the first inning - his first home run at the Triple-A level. One out later, Steve Selsky hit a solo blast of his own, giving Louisville a 2-0 lead. 
The Bats extended their advantage to 3-0 in the second frame, as Gabby Guerrero opened the inning with a single before coming around to score on a sacrifice fly by Chad Tromp. Norfolk got a run on the board in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Jaycob Brugman, but the game came to a standstill in the third inning when heavy rains forced a delay of one hour and three minutes.
After Louisville pushed across a run in the fifth inning to take a 4-1 lead, Stewart opened the sixth frame with a long homer over the right field party deck for his team-leading fourth home run of the season. The homer was Norfolk's first round tripper since May 12th at Gwinnett, snapping a 43-inning homerless stretch.  
Louisville's bullpen kept the Tides off the board the rest of the way, as five different relievers combined to fire five shutout innings out of the bullpen. 
Tim Melville (5-1) suffered his first loss of the season after allowing four runs on eight hits over 4.1 innings of work. Pitching before and after the rain delay, he walked one and struck out four while throwing 55 of his 88 pitches for strikes. 
The two teams will continue their three-game set on Saturday night at Harbor Park, with first pitch set for 7:05. Asher Wojchiechowski (1-1, 4.50) is set to make the start for Norfolk and will be opposed by right-hander Jose Lopez (0-4, 5.80). 
Saturday is Armed Forces Night at Harbor Park, as the Tides will honor the brave men and women who serve in the armed forces. Following the contest, there will be a fireworks extravaganza presented by Navy Mutual.  
Notes: Prior to Friday's game, four players were promoted to Norfolk from Double-A Bowie: C Armando Araiza, LHP Paul Fry, LHP John Means and RHP Ryan Meisinger…Also Friday, OF Alex Presley and LHP Josh Edgin were released from their Norfolk contracts, while LHP Jason Gurka was placed on the disabled list with a left hamstring injury…Drew Dosch hit his team-leading 11th double of the season.