Game #68 Preview — Power at Hickory
Game #68 — Road Game #32
West Virginia Power (1–0, 38–29) at Hickory Crawdads (0–1, 30–39)
Friday, June 22–7:00 p.m.
L.P. Frans Stadium (Hickory, N.C.)
WEST VIRGINIA DRUBS HICKORY IN OPENER: Oneil Cruz led the way for West Virginia offensively Thursday evening, as the infielder went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI to guide the Power to an 8–1 win over the Hickory Crawdads at L.P. Frans Stadium. Max Kranick spun four shutout innings in his second start against the Crawdads, but was lifted after a 1:07 rain delay in the top of the fifth inning. Sergio Cubilete picked up the win with three innings of relief, while Beau Sulser and Joel Cesar each tossed a scoreless inning to close out the victory. The Power scored a run five pitches into the game, as Cruz crushed a lead-off home run to left-center off Noah Bremer. West Virginia tacked on three more in the second thanks to a pair of RBI from Cruz on an infield single and Lolo Sanchez’s RBI double. After adding one in the fourth and one in the fifth, the Power put the game away in the seventh thanks to Brett Pope’s wall-scraping double and a wild pitch that plated Ben Bengtson.
PITCHING MATCHUP: LHP Domingo Robles (4–4, 3.29 ERA) will get the nod for West Virginia, while Hickory goes with RHP Reid Anderson (2–4, 3.66 ERA).
POWER LINEUP:
Oneil Cruz — SS
Rodolfo Castro — 2B
Calvin Mitchell — RF
Deon Stafford — C
Ben Bengtson — 1B
Brett Pope — 3B
Chris Sharpe — LF
John Bormann — DH
Lolo Sanchez — CF
Domingo Robles — LHP
ODDS AND ENDS:
MULTI-HIT MADNESS: Six Power batters recorded multi-hit games Thursday, as Bengtson, Cruz, Pope, Sanchez, Chris Sharpe and Deon Stafford all had multiple hits. For Cruz, it was his 21st multi-hit affair of the season, the most on the team, while his three RBI gave him 11 multi-RBI contests, also tops among West Virginia sluggers. Cruz has posted a multi-hit game in four of his last five contests, along with a multi-RBI effort in two of his last three starts. Sharpe, Sanchez and Stafford all have double-digit multi-hit efforts as well, with Stafford leading the trio at 16 while Sharpe has 12 and Sanchez has 11. Meanwhile, Pope posted his third multi-hit game and Bengtson notched his fifth.
CRUZIN RIGHT ALONG: With his 3-for-5 day in the series opener, Cruz extended his hitting streak to 10 games, the longest active streak on the Power. During his streak that dates back to June 8, the Pirates’ 13th-best prospect per MLB.com is averaging .400 (18-for-45) with a home run and nine RBI. This 10-game stretch is Cruz’s third hitting streak of 10 games or more in 2018. The Dominican native also hit the first lead-off home run for West Virginia since Adrian Valerio accomplished the feat August 25, 2017, against Hagerstown. Cruz holds the sixth-highest average in the SAL at .309, while his 42 RBI are tied for third and his 30 extra-base hits and .530 slugging percentage are fourth-highest.
STREAKING SHARPE: Sharpe also extended his hitting streak Thursday with his 2-for-5 night. The Burlington, Mass., native is riding a season-best nine-game streak with a .419 (13-for-31) clip, his second streak of six games or more this year. Sharpe has posted a multi-hit or multi-RBI game in each of his last four games.
CASTRO CATCHING FIRE: Rodolfo Castro has found his stroke at the plate of late, currently holding a season-long eight-game hitting streak where he is boasting a .323 (10-for-31) stroke with two home runs and nine RBI. Castro has posted either a multi-hit or multi-RBI game in four of his last five starts, while homering in two of those games.
SHUTDOWN SULSER: Sulser has been a fantastic addition to the Power bullpen since joining West Virginia April 27 along with Drew Fischer. Through 14 appearances, the Dartmouth product has a 3–3 record with a 2.49 ERA and two saves. Over 25.1 innings, Sulser has struck out 28 batters and walked none. Since his worst outing of the season May 23 in Columbia, when he allowed four runs on six hits in an inning of work, the reliever has surrendered just five hits and two runs (one earned) over 10 innings (seven appearances) with 13 strikeouts, lowering his ERA from 3.52 to 2.49, a difference of 103 points. West Virginia has won the last six games Sulser has appeared in.
CAN’T TOUCH CESAR: Since returning from the disabled list, Cesar has been a consistent member of the Power’s relief corps. Over his nine innings pitched, Cesar has given up just one run on six hits while striking out 12 and posting a 1.00 ERA in six games. Dating back to April 28, the 22-year-old has ceded only three runs (one earned) over nine appearances, tossing 17 innings and posting a 0.53 ERA while striking out 20 compared to six walks and nine hits.
FAMILIAR FACES: West Virginia starts its second half with three games on the road in Hickory, followed by a six-game homestand where they take on the Lakewood BlueClaws for three games and then see the Crawdads again in a three-game set at Appalachian Power Park. Following these two three-game series, the Power and Hickory match up against one final time from July 11–13 in Hickory.
POWER POINTS: West Virginia posted a season-high 16 hits Thursday… Kranick has not allowed a run in his last two starts, lasting nine innings and striking out three while scattering eight hits and a pair of walks… The Power is 14–0 when scoring seven runs or more in a game… West Virginia went 4-for-12 with RISP, stranding eight 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. Friday’s pregame coverage begins at 6:40 p.m. on the West Virginia Power Baseball Network.
