Jamar Walton singled through the drawn-in infield to send the Blue Crabs off in style with a walk-off 5-4 win at Regency Furniture Stadium. The Blue Crabs have won four games in a row for the first time this season and are over .500 in the second half for the first time at 4-3.
It all happened quickly for the Crabs in the bottom of the 9th. Jermaine Mitchell led off with an infield single and after two failed bunt attempts by Walton, reliever T.J. Hose (2-6) uncorked a two-base wild pitch that moved Mitchell to third. Walton lined the next pitch into the center field to send Mitchell to the plate and the Blue Crabs to the win column for a fourth straight time.
Jim Ed Warden (3-0) grabbed the win out of the bullpen pitching a scoreless top of the 9th while fellow Atlantic League All-Star T.J. Hose suffered the loss.
The Blue Crabs jumped on starter Wes Torrez with three runs in the bottom of the 1st on three straight run-scoring plays. With runners on second and third and one out, Luke Murton brought in Jamar Walton with an RBI groundout for the game’s first run. Jake Opitz then added an RBI single and scored on C.J. Ziegler’s run-scoring double down the left field line for a 3-0 Blue Crabs lead.
Camden stormed back to tie the game with two runs in the 2nd inning and one in the 3rd. Brandon Chaves’ first hit with the Riversharks was an RBI single down the right field line and Yasser Gomez came up next with an RBI groundout to cut the Sharks deficit to a run. Paddy Matera tied the game at 3-3 in the 3rd with a two-out, RBI single up the middle to score Jose Julio-Ruiz.
Each team came up with a run in the 6th. Mike Albaladejo’s sacrifice fly gave the Riversharks a brief first lead of the game but Bobby Stevens tied the game up in the bottom half with his third hit of the night, an RBI single, to make it 4-4.
