Warbirds Fall in Saturday Night Shootout

SALEM, VA. - In a game that had everything, the Wilson Warbirds lost 15-9 to the Salem RidgeYaks on Saturday night at Salem Memorial Ballpark.

Salem (52-65, 27-25 second half) took an early advantage, plating a run in both the first and second innings. Josue Brito doubled in the first run of the game, and Andrews Opata scored to put the RidgeYaks ahead 2-0 after a Wilson (62-54, 26-24 second half) error.

The game was delayed for an hour and 48 minutes due to rain in the bottom of the third inning.

After the delay, madness ensued. Handelfry Encarnacion drove in a run with a double and came around to score on a Salem error to tie the game at two.

Salem answered with four runs of its own to take a commanding 6-2 lead.

After the Kyle Jones Warbirds brought a run back in the top of the fifth inning, Salem extended the lead to 12-3 with six in the bottom of the fifth.

Resilient as ever, the Warbirds scored six of their own in the top of the sixth inning to once again slice the deficit to three runs at 12-9. Frederi Montero and Brailyn Antunez drove in five of the six runs in the frame on a pair of doubles.

Salem had the last laugh, scoring three across its final three at-bats to earn the 15-9 win.

Alex Kranzler (W, 1-0) was the winning pitcher for Salem, while Luke Roupe (L, 1-1) took the loss.

Wilson still has a chance to clinch a share of the series tomorrow at 4:05 p.m. LHP Enderson Mercado (4-7, 8.38) toes the rubber for the Warbirds against RHP Jose Bello (2-5, 3.92) of Salem.