Another Big Win for the Blue Crabs

After falling behind 3-0 in the second inning the Blue Crabs and starter Kenny Rayborn were able to slowly pick away at the Riversharks lead and pull out the win. This is the first win for Kenny since losing his last 3 straight, after starting the year 3-0 he hit a rough patch dropping the next 3 games.

The Blue Crabs only used 2 pitchers in the game, as Rayborn would go 8 for the win. He scattered 8 hits allowing only 3 runs 2 of which were earned, he walked 3 batters and struck out 4. All three of the runs were giving up in the second inning after getting the first two outs. After giving up his first hit of the game to Brian Burgamy he would move to second on a bunt single laid down by Christopher Walker. The runners would advance and one would score on an arrant throw by John Ramistella on the Catcher Jacobs single. One final run would score against the Blue Crabs following a walk and a single. After that inning however the Blue Crabs defense pulled out all the stops, diving to make plays such as Patrick Osborn's play in the 4th. The team became a well-oiled machine with one goal, keep the Riversharks from getting past 3rd base which they did remarkably well. In the 8th two Riversharks players would be ejected from the game, Coach Joe Ferguson and second baseman Junior Spivey after a called strike out. In the 9th right-hander and new closer Matt Hensley would come in to go for his second save on the season. After striking out the first batter he would give up a single who would get out on the feilder's choice hit into by the next batter. Matt would walk lead off batter Wayne Lydon and then get Bryant Nelson to ground out to second baseman Mike Just. Matt would only surrender the one hit, and the one walk while striking out one, keeping his ERA at a minuscule 0.84.

Offensively we appeared to get out to a slow start. Getting only one hit in the first 3 innings off of designated hitter Jermy Acey it appeared as though we may lose this one early on. However in the 4th with one out third baseman Patrick Osborn hit a double and would come in to score on the throwing error following Eric Crozier's single. In the 5th again with one out catcher Lance Burkhart would get hit by a pitch and score. Captain Jeremy Owens would lead off the 7th with a hard hit double and move to third on the James Shanks single, with the bases loaded following a Lance Burkhart walk second baseman Mike Just would step up to bat. He would hit into a double play but would also score the lead runner Owens to tie up the game. For the dramatic final run we would go to the 8th, with two outs Eric was walked. He moved to second on a Travis Garcia single and in would step the Captain Owens. He knew he had to make it safely to first to give the team a chance of scoring Eric. So after working a 2-2 count he got his pitch and hit the ball and ran with all his might to beat out the throw. Probably about 5 feet from the bag J.O. dove sinking his shoulder into the dirt flipping in a sort of barrel roll and arriving safely at 1st scoring the speedy Eric Crozier. He was doing everything he could to ensure the runner got home and it would be more then enough as the boys would hold off the Riversharks for the win.

In other Blue Crabs News: With the win we remain in first place, 3.0 games ahead of Long Island, 7.0 games ahead of Camden, and 8.5 games ahead of Bridgeport. There are only 20 games left in the first half so every win is huge for the Blue Crabs. Also because the Blue Crabs do not face the Long Island Ducks before the end of the half and they are our closest competitors. Tomorrow we face the Riversharks again and it is also the last day of the All Star Voting.