Game 71 Preview: Power at BlueClaws
Game #71 — Road Game #36
West Virginia Power (37–33) vs. Lakewood BlueClaws (29–41)
Thursday, June 20–7:05 p.m.
FirstEnergy Park (Lakewood, N.J.)
SHEAFFER’S BIG DAY POWERS SWEEP: David Sheaffer went 4-for-4 with a home run and two doubles to guide the Power to a 6–1, sweep-clinching victory over the Hagerstown Suns Sunday afternoon at Historic Municipal Stadium. With West Virginia up 1–0 in the third, Sheaffer tallied his first of three RBI on the afternoon with a base hit to left that scored Julio Rodriguez. Bobby Honeyman also came around the bases after Suns’ left fielder Ricardo Mendez misplayed the sizzling grounder to give the Power a 3–0 edge. West Virginia struck for two more runs in the fifth, as Honeyman lofted a sacrifice fly to center and Sheaffer scorched a two-bagger to plate Julio again and move the Power’s lead to 5–0. Meanwhile, Devin Sweet shined in his first career MiLB start, twirling five scoreless innings and allowing just two hits. Hagerstown cracked the scoreboard for the only time in the sixth, as new West Virginia reliever Kyle Hill allowed a double and a single to start his professional debut, and Gilbert Lara notched the run despite grounding into a double play. Sheaffer got that run right back in the eighth, smacking his first home run with the Power off Jackson Stoeckinger to shift the cushion back to five. Ben Onsyhko, Steven Moyers, Bryan Pall and Dayeison Arias finished off the final three innings to seal the four-game sweep, ceding two hits and fanning six batters while not issuing a walk.
PITCHING MATCH-UP:
RHP Ryne Inman (6–5, 4.17 ERA) toes the slab for West Virginia, while Lakewood counters with RHP Dominic Pipkin (3–1, 3.29 ERA).
Inman gets the ball for his 15th start of the year for the Power. The righty is coming off his best outing of the season, as he hurled the first complete game of his MiLB career with seven strong innings and conceded just two hits and one unearned run to finish off a doubleheader sweep against Hagerstown on the road.
Pipkin spent the first half of the season shifting in and out of the bullpen for the BlueClaws, but has won his last four decisions. His last outing of the first half came out of the bullpen for Lakewood against Hagerstown, where he lasted three innings and surrendered just a single baserunner over an impressive showing.
POWER LINEUP:
Ryan Ramiz — LF
J.R. Davis — 2B
Julio Rodriguez — RF
Bobby Honeyman — 3B
David Sheaffer — DH
Onil Pena — 1B
Charlie McConnell — CF
Jake Anchia — C
Utah Jones — SS
Ryne Inman — RHP
GAME NOTES:
THAT’S HOW YOU MAKE AN ENTRANCE: In just his second game with the Power, and first behind the plate, Sheaffer put on a show, collecting his first career four-hit game and tying his career-high with three RBI. The newly-added backstop cranked his third home run of the season, as well as the seventh of his Minor League career. In two games with the Power, Sheaffer is averaging .833 (5-for-6). He recorded the third four-hit contest of the season for West Virginia, matching Jarred Kelenic’s April 16 output vs. Lakewood and Cesar Trejo’s May 3 effort at Greensboro.
SWEET AS HONEY: Honeyman has been on a tear recently, reaching base safely in his last 11 games (June 6-current) and recording a hit in all but one (June 11). After going 7-for-16 with a homer, three doubles and six RBI in the four-game set at Hagerstown, he upped his average since June 6 to a blistering .366 (15-for-41), the eighth-best qualified mark in the SAL in this stretch. In fact, the Stony Brook product has hit safely in 27 of his last 32 games, going back to May 13. Across that elongated span, Honeyman boasts a .314 (38-for-121) clip, the seventh-highest qualified average among SAL sluggers, along with two homers, 17 RBI and only 17 strikeouts.
JUMP START FOR J-ROD: Prior to his eighth-inning home run Friday, June 14, Julio had one hit in his first 12 at-bats since returning from the injured list June 10. The roundtripper sparked a resurgence for the Mariners’ fourth-best prospect per Baseball America (fifth-best per MLB.com), as he has since gone 8-for-13 starting with that homer and added a pair of doubles, an RBI and two runs scored. Through his first 16 games in the South Atlantic League, Rodriguez is averaging .357 with one homer and nine RBI, though he has struck out 13 times.
HOMERS ON HOMERS ON HOMERS: With Sheaffer’s bomb Sunday, West Virginia now has 59 home runs, third-most in the South Atlantic League (Greensboro, 71 and Hickory, 74). The Power’s offense really enjoyed hitting at Historic Municipal Stadium over their most recent set, as the sluggers went deep five times in the four games in Maryland.
BREAK OUT THE BROOMS: With their 6–1 win in the first-half finale over Hagerstown last Sunday, the Power claimed their second straight sweep, extending their winning streak to seven games, which matches their season-best mark from April 20 (Game 2) to April 27. West Virginia had not swept a team in a four-game series since taking all four from the Suns August 27–30, 2018, at Appalachian Power Park. The Power has completed four sweeps this season, with three of them coming at home. Overall, West Virginia outscored Hagerstown by 13 runs across the four-game brooming.
TURCHIN’S DOUBLE SEALS NORTHERN TRIUMPH IN SAL ALL-STAR GAME: Delmarva’s Doran Turchin, the Bush’s Baked Beans South Atlantic League All-Star Game MVP, smashed a bases-clearing double in the bottom of the eighth to vault the Northern Division to an eventual 6–2 win over the Southern Division Tuesday evening at Appalachian Power Park in front of a sellout crowd of 6,237 fans. Both teams were held scoreless until the sixth, when Charleston’s Brandon Lockridge smacked a two-run homer to give the Southern squad a 2–0 advantage. The Northern Division answered in the home half, as Hickory’s Pedro Gonzalezbrought in a run with a base knock to slim the deficit to one. In the eighth, Greensboro’s Rodolfo Castro climbed aboard and came around to score on a wild pitch to tie the game at two before Turchin’s double put the Northern team in front for good. Jake Anchiagot the start behind the plate for the Northern Division and played the first three innings while going 0-for-1 at the dish with a fly out to right. Pall spun a scoreless second frame and capped it off with a strikeout. Arias secured the final out, inducing a fly ball to right field from Mickey Gasper to seal the 6–2 win.
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. Thursday’s pregame coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the West Virginia Power Baseball Network.
