Delmarva Finishes First Half With Win

Charleston, WV - The Delmarva Shorebirds swept the West Virginia Power with a 6-5 victory on Sunday afternoon. Closing the first half with three straight wins, Delmarva is headed to the All-Star Break with a 38-31 record, its best first half mark since 2008.

The game started quietly with both starters owning the first four innings. Delmarva finally broke through in the fifth inning. With two outs, Luis Heredia walked Jared Breen to spark the rally. Gregory Lorenzo reached on an infield single to extend the inning. Mike Yastrzemski cashed in with an RBI single to center, giving Delmarva a 1-0 lead.

After Luis Heredia departed, the Shorebirds jumped all over reliever Shane Carle. To the start the sixth inning, the first four Delmarva batters all reached safely. Trey Mancini lifted an opposite field two-run home run, his third of the season. Two batters later, Conor Bierfeldt followed suit with his own two-run blast that banged off the videoboard in left-center.

Trailing 5-0, West Virginia battled back with a big sixth inning. The Power started the sixth with three consecutive singles off Luc Rennie. JaCoby Jones smashed a grand slam to cut the Shorebirds lead down to one run. As Delmarva went to Jon Keller in the bullpen, West Virginia continued its run. With the bases loaded, Keller hit Harold Ramirez with a pitch to force in the tying run.

With a new ballgame, Delmarva immediately answered the call in the seventh. Drew Dosch drew a walk and stole second base to push the go-ahead run into scoring position. Chance Sisco delivered a two-out RBI single to give Delmarva back the lead, now at 6-5.

Jimmy Yacabonis hit a batter in the ninth inning, but the All-Star closer settled down for his league-leading 14th save. Jon Keller took home the win to improve to 3-0, while Shane Carle dropped to 1-5 with the loss.

The Shorebirds will have three days off for the All-Star Game, to be played on Tuesday night at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, North Carolina. Delmarva will next play on Thursday at home against the Lexington Legends to being the second half.