Blue Rocks Conclude Asheville Series With 9-0 Loss

WILMINGTON, DE - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (0-3, 30-38) dropped the series finale against the Asheville Tourists (3-0, 32-36) by a score of 9-0 on Sunday, June 22 at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium.

After Jackson Kent and Bryce Mayer traded zeroes for the first three innings, the Tourists opened the scoring for the day in the fourth. Walker Janek drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third after a single from Will Bush. Then, Chase Jaworsky brought Janek home with an RBI single that dropped in front of T.J. White in left to hold the early 1-0 advantage.

With Mayer out of the game, the Blue Rocks had a chance to respond in their half of the fourth against reliever Railin Perez. A pair of singles sandwiched between a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with no outs, but Perez was able to escape the jam unscathed with three straight strikeouts.

“At the end of the day we expanded the zone when we didn’t need to,” Marcus Brown said. “That’s baseball. They made some good pitches. They have some really good arms out of their [bullpen]. They do a really good job with their guys. We’ll bounce back, we’ll learn from it and we’ll get better.”

The Tourists threatened to tack on some more runs in the fifth with two straight hits off Kent, ending his day after 4.1 innings of one-run ball with five hits, one walk and three strikeouts. However, Bryan Caceres was able to retire the next three, including two punchouts, to keep the game at 1-0.

“I don’t think it was my best day, all my best stuff but that’s baseball,” Kent said. “You have to battle every single time and I did alright with it.”

But, Asheville added onto their lead in the seventh. A leadoff single and a walk from Drew Brutcher and Drew Vogel brought Tyler Whitaker up, who bunted down the third base line. Whitaker beat out the throw that sailed over the head of Branden Boissiere at first, allowing Brutcher to score. Then, Joseph Sullivan blew the game open with a three-run home run off Adam Blobaum, who had just entered in relief.

The Tourists extended the lead in the ninth. After the first three batters all reached base, Alejandro Nunez drove Whitaker home with a sacrifice fly for their sixth run of the game. Then, a pair of RBI singles from Jaworsky and Kenni Gomez made it an 8-0 game. Finally, a sacrifice fly from Brutcher provided the game’s final run of the game.

The Blue Rocks will welcome in the Hudson Valley Renegades for a six-game series with the opener scheduled for Tuesday, June 24 at 6:35 p.m.