Shorebirds Comeback to Win, 7-6

Salisbury, MD - The Delmarva Shorebirds (5-2) scored five runs in the eighth inning to come from behind to defeat the Lakewood BlueClaws (2-5) 7-6 at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. With the win, the Shorebirds have won back-to-back series for the first time this year. They beat the Asheville Tourists three to one to open the second half of the year. 

The Shorebirds have won six of their last eight games. 

Lakewood took an early 3-0 lead with a run in the first inning and two runs in the second. In the first, Carlos Tocci hit a flare single to left-center to lead off. He later scored on a single to center by Justin Dalles. In the second, Brian Pointer doubled in Alejandro Villalobos and Tocci hit an RBI groundout to score Pointer.

The Shorebirds trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the fifth inning. Roderick Bernadina reached on a fielder's choice. He stole second and ran to third on a throwing error by Lakewood catcher Justin Dalles. Then, Steel Russell hit a soft grounder to short that was mishandled and Bernadina came into score. Later in the inning, Tucker Nathans singled to right field to score Russell. 

Lakewood extended the lead to 6-2 with a run in the sixth and two in the eighth inning. 

The Shorebirds fought back in the bottom of the eighth inning. Nathans led off with a home run to right-center field, his eighth of the year. Then, the next batter, Simpson homered to left-center, his fifth of the year to trim the deficit to 6-4. Then, Nik Balog singled and Torsten Boss walked. Reliever Daniel Carela was removed after facing just four batters. The next hitter after the pitching change, Joel Hutter, dropped a bunt and new pitcher Delvi Francisco threw wild to third, allowing Balog to score. Bernadina followed with a groundout to second to score Boss and tie the game at 6-6. With one out, Steel Russell lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Shorebirds a 7-6 lead.

Mychal Givens held the BlueClaws scoreless over the final 1.2 innings to earn his second win. 

The Shorebirds travel to Greensboro, North Carolina to begin a seven game road trip on Thursday, June 27.