Wilmington Starts Road Trip With Wire-to-Wire Win

Woodbridge, VA- The Wilmington Blue Rocks scored a wire-to-wire win on Friday, beating the Potomac Nationals 5-1 at Northwest Federal Field. Dennicher Carrasco  hit a two-run homer while Jackson Kowar turned in a quality start for the Blue Crew. The win was Wilmington's fourth straight and moved the team a season-high eight games above .500 on the season.

The Rocks scored their first two runs thanks to Brewer Hicklen. The prospect outfielder opened the game with a triple and then came home MJ Melendez ' RBI-grounder. His second triple of the night scored Ricky Aracena and Rudy Martin in the third. Carrasco blew the game open when he put Wilmington up 5-0 with a two-run blast in the fourth.
Kowar made it stick with ease. The righty allowed just one run on four hits over six frames. Kowar (3-2) fanned five and walked only one as he got revenge on the P-Nats for beating him at Frawley Stadium last week.
Potomac pitcher Grant Borne yielded five runs on only four hits over six innings in a loss.
The Blue Crew continues their seven-day, eight-game road trip with a doubleheader on Saturday at Potomac. Lefty Marcelo Martinez gets the ball for Wilmington with first pitch of the opener slated for 5:05 p.m. Fans can catch all the action with the Voice of the Blue Rocks Cory Nidoh on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Wilmington's starting pitching has been virtually untouchable over the last four games. The quartet of Rito Lugo, Daniel LynchBrady Singer and Jackson Kowar combined to toss 24 innings while allowing just one run. Lugo made a spot start and kept the Keys at bay over five frames in the nightcap of Tuesday's doubleheader. Lynch retired 16 in a row at one point on Wednesday and did not allow a ball out of the infield after Jake Ring's lead-off single in the second. He equaled his career-long outing, tossing seven frames while yielding just two hits, fanning nine and walking none. Singer fanned a career-high 10 and walked none in six innings on Thursday and Kowar yielded just one run over six innings to start the road trip on Friday.
Dennicher Carrasco had gone almost 11 months without hitting a home run before Thursday's game. Now the infielder has a pair in the last two contests. Carrasco's dinger in the homestand finale capped a four-run third inning. Entering the final frame of Tuesday's doubleheader the Blue Rocks offense had gone 155 frames at Frawley Stadium without hitting a home run. Wilmington got a walk-off blast that frame MJ Melendez and Carrasco added his two-run bomb on Thursday, so the Blue Crew now have two dingers in the First State over their last 17 trips to the plate at home. Overall, Wilmington has hit 12 of its 15 long balls in 2019 on the road.
The Blue Crew have feasted on southpaw starting pitching this season. Wilmington put five runs up against Potomac lefty Grant Borne on Friday and got the win. The Rocks are now 11-2 versus left-handed starters in 2019.
Wilmington has had an odd schedule to start the 2019 season. Wilmington opened the campaign with a series against Salem and then played 17 consecutive games against CL South opponents. The Rocks went 9-8 during that stretch. The Blue Crew are now in the midst of playing 24 out of 26 against the CL North. The Rocks are 13-6 so far during this divisional-heavy portion of the slate and 13-8 on the year against CL North foes.
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