Game #100 Preview
Game #100 — Home Game #49
Hagerstown Suns (42–57, 12–17) vs Hickory Crawdads (60–35, 19–10)
Sunday, July 21–2:05 p.m.
Municipal Stadium (Hagerstown, MD)
SUNS BATS STEAM CRAWDADS
The weather was hot, but the Suns bats were hotter, as Hagerstown piled up 14 hits in its 9–2 victory over the Hickory Crawdads at Municipal Stadium Saturday. Hagerstown (42–57, 12–17) used two big innings to put the Crawdads (60–35, 19–10) away. The Suns offense put up three runs in the third against Hickory starter Cole Winn (L, 1–4) and then scored three more in the fifth against reliever Jesus Linarez. Before those big innings, the Suns got one run in the second when Cole Daily crossed home plate on a wild pitch. In the third, an Israel Pineda RBI gorundout made it a 2–0 game, and the Suns started a two-out rally. Kyle Marinconz came up with an RBI single and then Phil Caulfield’s RBI double made it 4–0 and chased Winn from the game. The Hickory starter went only 2.2 innings and allowed four runs while walking four.
PITCHING MATCH-UP:
Hagerstown sends LHP Jackson Stoeckinger (1–2, 3.86 ERA) to the hill, while Hickory counters with RHP Tyree Thompson (4–5, 2.98 ERA).
Stoeckinger has made two appearances out of the bullpen against Hickory this season. He tossed a scoreless frame May 17 and then allowed two runs in two innings May 20. Thompson will make his third start against Hagerstown in 2019. The righty allowed four runs over 3.1 innings May 17 and then two runs over five innings June 26.
Suns Starters:
Jackson Cluff-2B
Justin Connell-LF
Drew Mendoza-DH
Jacob Rhinesmith-RF
Kyle Marinconz-3B
Tyler Cropley-C
Cole Daily-1B
Trey Vickers-SS
Armond Upshaw-CF
Jackson Stoeckinger-LHP
GAME NOTES:
FINDING THE ‘CLUFF’ GENE: Hagerstown’s last two extra inning games have come against the Greensboro Grasshoppers and both have ended in similar fashion. The Suns won and the bat to score the winning run, one at home and one on the road, has been shortstop Jackson Cluff. Prior to the second half — when Cluff joined the team, the Suns were 1–7 in extra inning contests, but have now won back-to-back contests in extras. The BYU-product also launched his first professional homer in the second inning Monday’s game.
IT’S A TEAM EFFORT: In the last two games against Hickory, 17 of the Suns 18 starters have recorded at least one hit. In yesterday’s game Cole Daily was the lone batter not to get a hit in the last two games and he still was able to reach base via two walks and contribute a run to the cause.
MARINCONZ’S TERN: Kyle Marinconz has now tallied three hits in back-to-back games for the first time this season. The infielder now has five three-hit games in 2019.
IN THE VANN, AWAY FROM HOME: This season, Christian Vann has inherited 12 runners in 11 games. The 25th-round draftee has stranded all, but one of them (92%) on the basepaths. On average, Suns relievers strand 65% of inherited runners, the next-closest mark to Vann came from Aaron Fletcher, who stranded five of six inherited runners. Earlier this week, Fletcher, another lefty, made his Eastern-League debut with the Harrisburg Senators.
MULTI-BAG MENDOZA: Hagerstown’s first baseman hit his sixth double in 15 games Thursday. To put that in perpective, Justin Connell has the second-most doubles on the team this season, slashing 16 in 79 games. If Drew Mendoza were to maintain this clip for that period of time, he would hit 32 doubles in just under 80 games, which would give him the most doubles on the Suns. The Florida State-product now has a .403 on-base percentage to compliment his 24 total bases in 16 games. If that weren’t enough, he is also riding a season-high seven-game hitting streak. Including two from Mendoza, the Suns have just 12 hitting streaks that have spanned six games or more this season.
THROWING HIGH HEAT: Thursday, Angel Guillen fanned five batters, good for his third-most of the season. The righty has wrung up 16 hitters in 13.2 innings in July. The Venezuelan now has 66 strikeouts this season, which is the highest of any Suns reliever and the sixth-most amongst any Suns pitcher.
ON THE AIR: Suns home games and select road games can be heard at bit.ly/SunsRadio where John Kocsis Jr. and Connor Newcomb bring you the call, beginning with the Suns pre-game show at 1:50 p.m.
