Michael Burgess's fourth homerun of the season capped a three-run first inning for the Hagerstown Suns as they took down the Lakewood BlueClaws 6-2 Monday night at Municipal Stadium.
Hagerstown takes first of three at Municipal Stadium; 6-2
HAGERSTOWN, MD - Michael Burgess's fourth homerun of the season capped a three-run first inning for the Hagerstown Suns as they took down the Lakewood BlueClaws 6-2 Monday night at Municipal Stadium.
The Suns went on to match a season-high with 12 hits in the game but didn't pull away until another two runs crossed the plate with two outs in the eighth inning courtesy of a Jake Smolinski bases loaded single.
BlueClaws starter Jacob Diekman (0-3) struggled through the first inning, allowing the leadoff batter to reach and advance to second base with two outs. After an RBI single by Aaron Suess, Burgess cleared the bags with a shot over the right field wall.
Diekman began to settle down and held the Suns scoreless over the next three innings and had struck out six batters by the end of the fourth. He ran into trouble again in the fifth inning after allowing a leadoff double to Francisco Plasencia, who went 3-for-4 on the night. The next batter, Dan Lyons, singled to left field and the ball was misplayed by Michael Taylor which allowed the run to score.
That was the final inning of work for Diekman who was charged with four runs (all earned) on eight hits while walking one and striking out a season-high seven batters.
Lakewood chipped away at the Hagerstown lead with a single run in the third and another in the sixth. Derrick Mitchell was a catalyst in each of the innings, finishing the night 2-for-2 with two doubles and an RBI. His sacrifice-fly in the third scored Freddy Galvis, who had walked to start the inning, and Mitchell scored the BlueClaws second run after doubling and advancing two bases on two separate wild pitches from reliever Randy Mattias.
Terrence Engles (3-0) picked up the win in his second start of the year after limiting the BlueClaws to just one run on two hits through his five innings. Mattias labored through the sixth and seventh and Martin Beno notched his second save by throwing a scoreless final two frames.
Hagerstown added two runs in the eighth off of reliever Walter Tejeda. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for the Suns before Smolinski singled home a pair. A walk reloaded the bases and Jared Simon was called upon to record just one out, which he did by striking out Plasencia.
The two teams will meet again on Tuesday at 6:35pm and Wednesday at 10:35am to wrap up the three game set in Hagerstown. It will be Chance Chapman (0-1) on the hill for Lakewood Tuesday while the Suns will throw Cole Kimball (1-0). Radio coverage is available of every BlueClaws game by tuning into the Shore Sports Network (1160 WOBM-AM or 1310 Fox Sports Radio.