Blue Rocks Keep Close, Fall to Dash in Extras

Winston-Salem, N.C.- The Wilmington Blue Rocks (60-63/29-24) mustered up plenty of offense in the resumption of the July 3 game against the Winston-Salem Dash (73-48/32-19) but ultimately fell by a score of 12-11 after 11 innings on Saturday night at BB&T Ballpark. Meibrys Viloria paved the way offensively, going 3-for-6 with a single, two doubles, one run scored and two RBI. The second game which was scheduled was postponed due to lightning in the area and the game will be made up on Sunday as part of a doubleheader. The Blue Rocks are currently 3.5 games out of first place. 
 

The resumption of the suspended game 47 days later came down to a wild finish as the Rocks just fell short after 11 innings. After rallying for three runs in the 10th inning on a two-RBI single by Vance Vizcaino and a double play that scored Emmanuel Rivera to tie the game at 11-11, the Blue Crew left the tying run at third base to have their valiant comeback come to an end.
   
Winston-Salem scored the eventual winning run in the top of the 11th. With Nick Madrigal on second and two outs, Ti'Quan Forbes hit a single through the gap in right to score Madrigal and give the Dash the 12-11 lead. Wilmington tried to keep the game alive in the bottom of the 11th. Rudy Martin started the inning on second base and moved to third on a D.J. Burt sacrifice bunt. Gabriel Cancel struck out swinging and Viloria hit a line drive that was caught by the center fielder to end the game.  
The Dash resumed their scoring in the top of the fifth. Laz Rivera doubled to left to score Daniel Gonzalez to make it 4-2. Madrigal followed up with a groundout that scored Luis González to cut the lead to 4-3. The Blue Rocks responded in the bottom of the fifth with a ground-rule double by Viloria to score Burt and extend the lead to 5-3.
Winston-Salem took the lead in the top of the sixth. A wild pitch by Carter Hope scored Yeyson Yrizarri and pull the Dash back within one, 5-4. Luis Gonzalez singled up the middle to drive in two runs and give Winston-Salem the 6-5 lead. The Dash added some insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Gavin Sheets doubled to left to bring Madrigal home and push the lead to 7-5. Yrizarri added a sacrifice fly to center to score Sheets and make it an 8-5 ballgame.
The Blue Rocks tied the game in the bottom of the seventh. Cancel hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Martin and cut the lead to 8-6. Rivera followed up with a two-run double into left to tie the game again, 8-8. The Dash took back the lead in the top of the 10th. Luis Robert singled to right to drive in Forbes and put Winston-Salem back on top 9-8. Luis Gonzalez hit another single to score Yrizarri and double the lead to 10-8. Madrigal added another RBI single to put the Dash ahead 11-8.  
Game two of the doubleheader was delayed and eventually postponed to Sunday, August 19 with first pitch scheduled at 1:00 p.m. Wilmington will have right-hander Ofreidy Gomez (4-10, 3.83 ERA) to start on the mound. Winston-Salem will send lefty John Parke (4-3, 4.08 ERA) to oppose him. Fans can tune into both games of the doubleheader with Jack Keffer on the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.  
 
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE
The loss on Saturday night was just the third time this season the Rocks have gone down in extra innings. In seven games that have needed extra frames, Wilmington is 4-3 overall. The last time the Blue Rocks needed extra innings was back on August 14. Wilmington was playing host to the Lynchburg Hillcats when a tight contest ended in Lynchburg's favor 2-1 after 10 innings. The last time Wilmington won in extras was back on July 20 when the Rocks rallied to pull of a 12-11 win in Lynchburg in 10 innings.  
With inclement weather moving through the Winston-Salem area, game two of the doubleheader was pushed onto Sunday, August 19. In doubleheaders this season, Wilmington has swept twice, has been swept twice and has split four doubleheaders. The last doubleheader for the Blue Rocks took place on August 4 that ended in a split with the Frederick Keys winning game one 2-1 and the Rocks taking game two 4-2.
The Rocks offense came alive on Saturday night. A total of four Blue Rocks players had multi-RBI games in Saturday's 12-11 loss. Emmanuel Rivera, Meibrys Viloria, and Vance Vizcaino all picked up two RBI in the game. Rivera brings his total to 13 multi-RBI games on the year while Viloria now has 14 multi-RBI games with Saturday night's affair being his 10th two-RBI game. Vizcaino brings his total to four games where he has hit for two RBI.  
  
 
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