Rocks Lose Another Close One to Carolina

Hicklen's Homer Not Enough

Outfielder Brewer Hicklen hit a home run in the Blue Rocks 2-1 loss Monday at Carolina. (Brad Glazier)

By Cory Nidoh

July 22, 2019

Zebulon, N.C. -- The Wilmington Blue Rocks suffered their second straight one-run loss to the Carolina Mudcats on Monday night at Five County Stadium by the score of 2-1. The Blue Rocks' offense was held in check with the final 18 batters going down in order to close out the game.  In

Zebulon, N.C. -- The Wilmington Blue Rocks suffered their second straight one-run loss to the Carolina Mudcats on Monday night at Five County Stadium by the score of 2-1. The Blue Rocks' offense was held in check with the final 18 batters going down in order to close out the game. In turn, the Rocks dropped the series against the Mudcats and finished their road trip with a 3-3 record.

For the third straight night , the Blue Rocks scored in the opening inning against the Mudcats. With two outs, Brewer Hicklen crushed a solo home run over the right field wall to give the Blue Rocks a 1-0 lead. However, the lead would only hold until the fourth as Carolina got to starter Kris Bubic. Four straight Mudcats reached with Mario Feliciano tying the game with an RBI triple and Ryan Aguilar put Carolina up for good with an RBI single to right field to put the Rocks behind 2-1.
The Blue Rocks got a leadoff double by Nick Pratto in the third inning, but he was left stranded and Hicklen drew a walk to leadoff the fourth inning and that would be the only two baserunners for the Rocks for the rest of the game.
Carolina's starter Matt Smith set a career-high with eight strikeouts in five innings of work to earn the win as he outdueld Bubic who worked 4.2 innings and allowed a pair of earned runs in a losing effort.
The Blue Rocks return to Frawley Stadium on Tuesday, July 23 to begin a three-game series with the Potomac Nationals with first pitch at 6:35 p.m. LHP Austin Cox makes the start for the Blue Rocks. Fans who can't make it to the game can listen to the action with the Voice of the Blue Rocks Cory Nidoh on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
The Blue Crew lead the Carolina League with 42 games decided by a single score in 2019 and have played 61 affairs with a margin of victory of two-or-less. Wilmington is an impressive 42-19 in those close calls including 32-10 in one-run decisions. Five of the one-run losses have come in wall-off fashion.
The Blue Rocks wrapped up another regular season matchup on the six-game road trip, concluding their head-to-head tilt against the Carolina Mudcats. The Blue Rocks lost the first game of the series on a walk-off three-run homer on April 11 before ratlling off nine straigh wins over the Mudcats before dropping the final two games of the series on Sunday and Monday, with Sunday's game also ending on a walk-off hit for Carolina.