Sullivan and Stone Crabs take series in Clearwater with 6-3 Wednesday win

CLEARWATER, Fla. (May 10, 2017) - Stone Crabs catcher Brett Sullivan homered and had three hits to lead Charlotte to a 6-3 win over the Clearwater Threshers Wednesday morning at Spectrum Field.
Sullivan also threw out three runners on the base paths to spearhead the Charlotte (16-17) effort.
After Clearwater (20-13) took a 2-0 lead in the first, Sullivan homered to right to pull the Stone Crabs to within 2-1.
Still down by that score in the top of the fourth, Sullivan singled before advancing to second on a groundout. After a wild pitch and a walk put runners on the corners, David Olmedo-Barrera bounced a grounder to shortstop, where Emmanuel Marrero bobbled the ball. That allowed Sullivan to score and tie the game at two. Jim Haley and Manny Sanchez both followed with singles against Threshers starter Cole Irvin (3-3) to give the Crabs a 4-2 lead.
Stone Crabs reliever Taylor Hawkins (1-1) worked three innings of one-run relief to keep Charlotte in front. Hawkins struck out two to earn his first win at the High-A level.
With Charlotte up 4-3 in the top of the eighth, David Rodríguez singled before Olmedo-Barrera doubled him to third. Haley then bounced a single down the right field line to plate both runners and extend the Stone Crabs' lead to 6-3.  
Michael Santos replaced Hawkins, dealing four innings of scoreless baseball to earn his first save of the year.
The Stone Crabs finished their 10-game road trip Wednesday with a 7-3 record.
They'll return home Thursday night to take on the Fort Myers Miracle at 6:35 p.m. Eduar Lopez (2-3, 3.77) will be on the mound for Charlotte against Lachlan Wells (1-4, 4.14) of Fort Myers. Coverage begins at 6:20 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.