Charleston Squeaks Past Staten Island in Series Finale
CHARLESTON, WV – Behind a five-run fifth inning, the Dirty Birds earned a series sweep Sunday evening at Appalachian Power Park, defeating the FerryHawks 6-4. All four games in the FerryHawks first-ever series were decided by four runs or fewer.
For the first time in the quartet, the FerryHawks struck first, plating the opening run against Charleston starter Dominic DeMasi in the fourth inning.
Brandon Wagner started the rally with a single to right field, before being moved to third on
Norberto Susini's base hit. With runners on the corners,
Ben Ruta's sacrifice fly to left field scored Wagner from third to give Staten Island a 1-0 advantage.
The East Meadow, NY Native DeMasi (1-0) limited the FerryHawks to just the lone tally across five innings, striking out one without any walks.
Staten Island right-hander
Jordan Simpson shutout the Dirty Birds in his three-and-a-third innings pitched. In his first start of the 2022 season, Simpson struck out five and walked four, permitting just two Dirty Birds hits.
In Charleston's game-deciding fifth inning, they sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring five runs on four base hits. Zach Sullivan drew a six-pitch walk against FerryHawks reliever
Connor Law, before advancing to second on an errant pickoff attempt. After striking out Angel Garced, Law was removed for left-hander
Williams Jerez. Jerez was greeted by an Anferee Seymour RBI single, tying the game 1-1. Following a Scott Kelly groundout, Staten Island elected to intentionally walk Nick Longhi with first base open. With two outs and two aboard, Engel Beltre reached on an infield single, loading the bases for Connor Justus. The shortstop proceeded to hit a line drive base hit to centerfield, plating a pair to make it 3-1 Dirty Birds. The inning was then aided by a Law balk, which scored Beltre from third and pushed Justus to second. After Law plunked Mike Hart, Yovan Gonzalez capped the inning with an RBI single to centerfield, extending the lead to 5-1.
Jerez (0-2) was only able to record two outs on Sunday, allowing four earned runs on four hits. He was one of five relievers used by Edgardo Alfonzo's club.
The FerryHawks didn't go down quietly in Sunday's finale, cutting it to a one-run game in the seventh inning. After tossing a scoreless sixth inning, Kit Scheetz was replaced by lefty Ryan Lawlor. A leadoff walk by
Ben Ruta paired with a one-out walk by
Darlin De La Rosa, eventually set the table for FerryHawks shortstop
Angel Aguilar with two on and two out. The 26-year-old sent Lawlor's 1-1 offer over the left-field fence for his first home run of the season. The three-run shot cut the Dirty Birds lead to 5-4.
Charleston tacked on an insurance run against
Joe Kuzia on Kelly's eight-inning RBI single. It was the first earned run allowed by Kuzia in three appearances this season.
The FerryHawks thrice brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning after a leadoff walk by
Ben Ruta, but Dirty Birds pitcher Walker Weickel retired the next three batters to pick up his first save of the 2022 campaign.
Staten Island (0-4) continues its season-opening 9-game road trip on Wednesday evening at Southern Maryland. The FerryHawks send RHP
Julio Teheran to the bump against Blue Crabs RHP Darel Thompson. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 PM.
Postgame Notes: Angel Aguilar (6) &
Ricardo Cespedes (6) have hits in all four games this season...Aguilar leads the FerryHawks with (5) RBI...Eddie Reynoso has not allowed an earned run in three appearances (2.2 IP)...
Joel Huertas has not allowed an earned run in two appearances (2.0 IP)...Eight FerryHawks batters appeared in all four games at Charleston
