Game 56 Preview: Power at Tourists
Game #56 — Road Game #28
West Virginia Power (27–28) at Asheville Tourists (24–31)
Sunday, June 2–2:05 p.m.
McCormick Field (Asheville, N.C.)
POWER SMACKED 16–1 SATURDAY: West Virginia’s offense was subdued for the second straight day, while Asheville’s offense went to work in the late innings, plating 14 runs from the fifth inning on in a 16–1 walloping of the Power Saturday night at McCormick Field. The Tourists notched two in the third off Damon Casetta-Stubbs on an RBI groundout and a base hit from Danny Edgeworth, but West Virginia responded right back in the next frame. The first four batters reached against Alfredo Garcia, with J.R. Davis and Keegan McGovern singling before Onil Pena worked a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Bobby Honeyman then singled in Davis to cut the deficit in half, but the Power would leave the bases loaded from there. Asheville went back to work in the fifth, plating three runs in each of the next three frames before exploding for five in the eighth. The Tourists used four long balls over their final four offensive frames, as Edgeworth went deep in consecutive at-bats and Kyle Datres and Coco Montes homered for the second straight game.
PITCHING MATCH-UP:
LHP Steven Moyers (3–4, 5.37 ERA) makes his eleventh appearance for West Virginia, while Asheville goes with RHP Ryan Feltner (3–4, 5.06 ERA).
Moyers toes the slab after he hurled a quality start in his last outing against Lexington. He tossed six innings and surrendered three earned runs on six hits while registering a no-decision. This appearance will be Moyers’ second start in Asheville, where he was tabbed for five runs and eight hits over 4.1 innings back on April 20 at McCormick Field.
Feltner, a 2018 fourth-round pick out of Ohio State, takes the hill for his twelfth start of the season. The righty has faced West Virginia twice this season already. In his first game against the Power, Feltner allowed five earned runs and was dealt the loss in the suspended game that was completed on Friday. His second outing against West Virginia came at Appalachian Power Park, where he spun six innings and conceded two runs in a no-decision.
POWER LINEUP:
Ryan Ramiz— LF
J.R. Davis — CF
Keegan McGovern — DH
Bobby Honeyman — 3B
Onil Pena — 1B
Johnny Slater — RF
Dean Nevarez — C
Nick Rodriguez — 2B
Cesar Izturis Jr. — SS
Steven Moyers— LHP
GAME NOTES:
SWEET AS HONEY: Honeyman has really caught fire of late, hitting safely in 16 of his last 18 games (May 13-present). He is averaging .324 (22-for-68) with eight RBI and 12 runs in that span. Honeyman is currently riding a seven-game hitting streak as well, going back to May 24, his second streak of six games or more this season (8, May 13–20).
BIG-INNING BLUNDERS: Asheville’s five-run eighth inning is the third big inning the Tourists have notched against West Virginia in this series (2nd inning, 7 runs and 6th inning, 5 runs, May 31). West Virginia has had 11 big innings posted against them this year, with eight of them coming on the road.
MULTI-HIT MCCONNELL: Charlie McConnell went 2-for-4 with two doubles Saturday night, the Power’s only two extra-base hits in the contest. McConnell now has 10 multi-hit games this season, third-most on the team (Joseph Rosa, 14 and Jarred Kelenic, 17).
ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE NUMBERS: The Tourists piled up 19 hits against West Virginia last night, the most hits the team has allowed in a game this season. The Power has not given up more than 19 hits in a contest since 2014, when they surrendered 20 hits two times in the span of a week to the Delmarva Shorebirds (June 24) and the Lakewood BlueClaws (June 30). Asheville’s 16 runs scored Saturday are the second-most West Virginia has conceded this season (Greensboro, 17, May 22). The Power has allowed 16+ runs in a single game just four times since 2012. West Virginia has been outscored 30–2 overall in the last two days, and outhit 32 to 11.
WE’RE ON TO THE SECOND HALF: The South Atlantic League’s Northern Division became a three-horse race last night, as the Power was officially eliminated from playoff contention with their loss and Delmarva’s come-for-behind 5–3 win over Greenville in South Carolina. West Virginia has not made the playoffs since 2015, when they posted a league-best 87–52 record and won the second-half title with a 50–20 mark.
A MONTH TO FORGET: West Virginia was happy to see the month of May come to a close, as the team posted a 10–20 record this past month, the most losses of any team in the SAL. The Power also recorded a .224 average, the fourth-worst mark in the league, and a 5.44 ERA, the highest ERA of all Sally League staffs. West Virginia had not dropped 20 games in a single month since May 2012, when they put up an identical 10–20 record, while the pitching staff has not held a higher monthly ERA since April 2012, as the arms slotted in a 5.80 earned run average over 24 games.
DOMINANT DAYEISON: Dayeison Arias shut down the last major Tourists rally in the seventh Thursday night, entering with runners at the corners and two down with Asheville’s hottest hitter in Terrin Vavra at the dish. The reliever induced a groundout and cruised through the other three batters he faced in the eighth. Arias has not allowed an earned run in his last 11 appearances (April 25-present), during which he has thrown 17 innings, ceded just six hits and struck out 21 batters compared to four walks. Only one other pitcher in the SAL has a spotless ERA with at least that many innings under their belt in this span, Kannapolis starter Johan Dominguez (21 innings, six games, four starts).
POWER POINTS: Sunday starter Steven Moyers is coming off his sixth quality start of the year last time out against Lexington. Those six quality starts are tied with Clay Chandler for the most on the team… West Virginia went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, stranding seven men on base… McGovern is 3-for-8 (.375) in his first two games in a Power uniform… Johnny Slater became the third position player to head to the mound for West Virginia this season.
ON THE AIR: West Virginia Power games can be heard on The Jock 1300 and 1340 AM in the Kanawha Valley, online at wvpower.com and on the TuneIn Radio App. David Kahn and Kyle Youmans will handle play-by-play duties in 2019. Sunday’s pregame coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. on the West Virginia Power Baseball Network.
