New Britain, CT – The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs (17-17) took game one of their four-game series on the road over the New Britain Bees (13-21) 3-1, Friday, May 26 pushing their winning streak up to four games.
Southern Maryland’s offense jumped on Bees’ starter Mike Lee (0-3), putting up three runs in the top of the first inning. The excitement started with back-to-back two-out walks to Michael Snyder and Zach Wilson. Two singles from Cory Vaughn and Devon Rodriguez allowed Snyder to score two plays later. Zach Cone followed that with a single to left field, allowing Wilson and Vaughn to cross the plate, putting the Blue Crabs ahead 3-0 early.
The Bees threatened in their first time at the plate as well, putting two men on with just one out in the bottom of the first. Southern Maryland’s starter, Drew Hayes (1-1), forced a double play from the clean-up hitter, working out of the early jam. Hayes settled in from there, allowing just three hits through his next five innings of work.
Trouble hit for Hayes in the bottom of the seventh inning, as New Britain tried to fight back in the game. A one-out double from Jon Griffin scored Conor Bierfeldt from first, cutting the lead to 3-1. Hayes was pulled from the game after the next batter reached base as well, singling to put runners on the corners with one out still in the inning. Reliever Cody Hebner came on, stranding both of the inherited runners, striking out the only two batters he faced.
The Blue Crabs were unable to put any more runs up in the game, as New Britain reliever Jason Jarvis shut them down in his four innings of work. Southern Maryland turned the two-run lead over to closer Cody Eppley (S,11) to shut down the Bees in bottom of the ninth. The Bees rallied against Eppley, putting two runners on with just one-out, bringing the winning run to the plate in the form of Yusuke Kajimoto. Eppley got a ground ball up the middle from Kajimoto, which shortstop Edwin Garcia took himself and fired to first, for the 6-3 double play to end the game.
The win brought the Blue Crabs up to .500 on the season, at 17-17 on the season. The win is the team’s fourth in a row, coming off three straight wins against the Freedom Division leader, the Lancaster Barnstormers
The Blue Crabs return to action Saturday, May 27th for a two games against the Bees. Southern Maryland will send RHP Brian Grening (1-1, 3.63 ERA) to the mound in game one tomorrow. The Blue Crabs will turn to RHP Gaby Hernandez (2-0, 3.14) for game two of the doubleheader, looking to extend their winning streak. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 12:35 P.M. on Saturday, with game two coming at 6:35 P.M.