Game #119 Preview — Power vs. RiverDogs
Game #119 — Home Game #62
Charleston RiverDogs (24–29, 57–64) vs. WV Power (24–28, 61–57)
Sunday, August 19–2:05 p.m.
Appalachian Power Park (Charleston, WV)
RIVERDOGS CLAIM BACK AND FORTH OPENER: Calvin Mitchell went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI while West Virginia’s offense scored in each of the first four innings, but the Charleston RiverDogs were able to pull ahead for good in the fifth as they took the series opener, 7–6, Saturday night at Appalachian Power Park. The Power plated three in the first on Mitchell’s two-run blast and a solo shot from Rodolfo Castro, but Charleston was able to tally two in the top of the second against Sergio Cubilete to make it a one-run game. West Virginia tacked on one in the home half of the second on Connor Kaiser’s sacrifice fly, but Chris Hess knotted the game up at four with his two-run jack in the third. Ryan Peurifoy managed to pull the Power back in front in the bottom of the third as he grounded into a fielder’s choice that resulted in a throwing error by Welfrin Mateo to plate Raul Hernandez. Hess responded right back in the fourth with a sacrifice fly to square up the contest again, but Dylan Busby stroked an RBI double to set West Virginia ahead, 5–4. The RiverDogs took their first and final lead of the night in the fifth when Ike Schlabach airmailed a throw to Luke Mangieri on a sacrifice bunt from Eduardo Navas, allowing Wilkerman Garcia to score and tie the game at five. The next batter, David Metzgar, lofted a sacrifice fly to right that scored Frederick Cuevas and put Charleston in front for good. In the loss, Drew Fischer and Beau Sulser each tossed a scoreless inning.
PITCHING MATCH-UP: RHP Travis MacGregor (1–4, 3.36 ERA) takes the hill for West Virginia, while Charleston counters with lefty Reiver Sanmartin (2–5, 3.92 ERA).
POWER LINEUP:
Travis Swaggerty — CF
Connor Kaiser — SS
Calvin Mitchell — RF
Deon Stafford — C
Dylan Busby — 3B
Raul Hernandez — 1B
Robbie Glendinning — 2B
Jesse Medrano — DH
Lolo Sanchez — LF
Travis MacGregor — RHP
ODDS AND ENDS:
MASHING MITCHELL: Mitchell turned in quite the performance in the series opener Saturday night against Charleston. He crushed his first home run since July 3 at Hagerstown, snapping a streak of 36 games without a homer for the California native. Mitchell also recorded his 27th multi-hit game and 12th multi-RBI affair, both second-best on the team to Oneil Cruz, who possesses 30 multi-hit games and 15 multi-RBI contests. Mitchell notched his first three-hit game since July 25, along with his sixth game this season where he has collected three hits or more.
WELCOME BACK, BUSBY: Busby was activated off the disabled list Wednesday afternoon after completing a rehab assignment with the rookie-level Bristol Pirates. In his first three games back with West Virginia since May 20, he has gone 3-for-9 with two doubles, a triple, two RBI and a run scored, while holding down the hot corner and batting in the middle of the order. The Florida State product registered his first career triple in the fifth inning Thursday.
SHUTDOWN SULSER: Since a tough outing July 25 in Kannapolis, Sulser has regained his dominance and claimed the role of West Virginia’s primary closer after Matt Seelinger was dealt to the Tampa Bay Rays. In six appearances since that walk-off loss, Sulser has ceded one run on five hits over 10.2 innings (0.84 ERA) and registered 18 strikeouts. The Dartmouth product has only allowed one of his 15 inherited runners to score this season. He has also registered six saves in eight opportunities this season, second-most to Seelinger’s seven that he accrued before the trade to Tampa Bay.
HOLY HOMERS: Mitchell and Castro’s home runs upped the Power’s season total to 77, tied with Delmarva for the eighth-most homers in the South Atlantic League (Asheville leads the pack with 137). Castro hit his first home run since July 11 with his first-inning laser beam to right field. Every active Power batter that has played more than three games at the Low-A level has at least one home run this season while with West Virginia.
HAMMERIN HERNANDEZ: Hernandez went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored Saturday night, boosting his league-leading average in the month of August to .467 over his 14 games played. During this 14-game stretch, the Power backstop has five RBI, five runs scored and five extra-base hits to go along with a 1.098 OPS.
RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY: Saturday’s first pitch was delayed by 33 minutes due to earlier inclement weather that rolled through the Charleston area. With Saturday’s pregame setback, West Virginia has now had 36 games affected by weather in 2018, the most in club history (dating back to 2005).
PLAYOFF PUSH: With West Virginia’s loss yesterday and Kannapolis’ contest getting suspended, the Intimidators were able to increase their lead to 3.5 games in the race for the South Atlantic League’s Northern Division Wild Card spot. However, if the Power wins today and Kannapolis falls in both games, the first of which they are trailing by five in the top of the sixth, West Virginia would be just two games back. The Power has 15 games remaining in the 2018 season with one series left against an above-.500 team (Rome Braves, August 23–26 at State Mutual Stadium).
POWER POINTS: Seven of West Virginia’s final 15 games are against the Charleston RiverDogs (August 31-September 3 in S.C.)… The Power was 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position Saturday, stranding seven men on base.
ON THE AIR: West Virginia Power games can be heard on The Jock 1300 & 1340 AM in the Kanawha Valley, online at wvpower.com and on the TuneIn Radio App. David Kahn and John Kocsis will handle play-by-play duties in 2018. Sunday’s pregame coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. on the West Virginia Power Baseball Network.
