Will DeBoer: Seabrooke

[weams]

The Delmarva Shorebirds scored seven runs in the middle three innings to back a solid start from Travis Seabrooke and beat the Hagerstown Suns 7-2 on Friday night at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.

Seabrooke (1-1) bounced back from a shaky first start, allowing two runs on four hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out two on an economical 63 pitches.

McKenzie Mills (1-1) took the loss for the Suns, allowing three runs on six hit in five innings. The Shorebirds got four scoreless innings between Jhon Peluffo and Kory Groves, who kept Hagerstown at an arm’s length for the rest of the night.

Down 2-0 on the bottom of the fourth, the Shorebirds (3-6) led off with back-to-back walks to Collin Woody and Preston Palmeiro. Chris Clare belted a double to center, scoring both and tying the game.

In the fifth, Jake Ring blasted a one-out ground-rule double to right center, his second two-sacker of the game. After a Chris Shaw groundout sent Ring to third, Woody brought him home with a soft liner into left. Woody’s RBI single extended his hitting streak to seven games and gave the Shorebirds a 3-2 lead.

Against reliever Mick VanVossen in the sixth, Gerrion Grim led off with a walk, moved to second on an errant pickoff attempt, and waltzed up to third on a balk. Frank Crinella singled into left to bring home Grim and make it 4-2. From there, the game got away from VanVossen. Ryan McKenna walked, then after a flyout Chris Shaw rolled a grounder to the hole on the left for an infield single to load the bases. Woody was then hit by a pitch to force in a run, and Preston Palmeiro drew a full-count walk to force in another. Clare capped the scoring frenzy on a sac fly to score Shaw and give the game its final margin.

Peluffo took the baton from Seabrooke in the sixth and managed three scoreless one-hit innings. Groves then worked around back-to-back singles to lead off the ninth and retired the last three Suns he faced to clinch the win.

Ring continued his hot run at the plate for Delmarva, going 4-for-5 with two doubles and a run. He now has four doubles in the first two games of the homestand, and his five on the season tie him for first in the South Atlantic League. Clare and Woody combined for five of the Shorebirds’ seven RBIs.

Juan Soto led the way for the Suns (6-3), going 3-for-4 with a home run and both Hagerstown RBIs.

Daniel Johnson led off the game for the Suns with a single and stole his way to second and third, eventually scoring on a Soto groundout. Soto put his side up 2-0 with a solo home run to lead off the fourth, setting up Delmarva for seven unanswered.