Game 96 Preview: Power vs. Fireflies
Game #96 — Home Game #47
Columbia Fireflies (13–12, 37–54) at West Virginia Power (12–13, 49–46)
Tuesday, July 16–7:05 p.m.
Appalachian Power Park (Charleston, W.Va.)
POWER BLANKS FIREFLIES IN OPENER: Clay Chandler dominated the Columbia Fireflies over seven strong innings while holding them to three hits, and the Power used a pair of homers from Ryan Ramiz and Austin Shenton to secure a 5–0 win in the series opener Monday night at Appalachian Power Park. Chandler started off very strong, locking up the first eight Firefly hitters before allowing an infield single to Gerson Molina in the top of the third. Meanwhile, Ramiz got the scoring going in the first, ripping a triple into the right-field corner and scoring on a sacrifice fly from Mike Salvatore to make it 1–0 West Virginia. Ramiz continued his torrid stretch in the third, smoking a 424-foot bomb to right that extended the Power lead to 2–0. Chandler fired a 1–2–3 fourth and worked around a leadoff double in the fifth to keep Columbia scoreless, while Shenton padded West Virginia’s lead in the sixth with a two-run homer. Bobby Honeyman tacked on another run in the seventh with his fourth hit of the ballgame to push the Power’s lead to 5–0, while Chandler wrapped up his outing in the seventh with six strikeouts. Kyle Hilltossed a perfect eighth with two strikeouts, while Sal Biasi spun a scoreless ninth to lock down the 5–0 win.
PITCHING MATCH-UP:
RHP Ryne Inman (7–6, 4.79 ERA) takes the hill for West Virginia, while RHP Tylor Megill (3–1, 1.48 ERA) gets the ball for Columbia.
Inman is the first pitcher for West Virginia to make his 20th start of the season Tuesday night. The right-hander had a career outing against Columbia back on April 23 in his first meeting with the Fireflies, notched a career-high 10 strikeouts and hurling 5.1 no-hit innings. In his last start, Inman tossed five innings and allowed two runs in a no-decision against Delmarva.
Megill makes his third start for the Fireflies this season and enters as one of the most consistent hurlers in the South Atlantic League. The 23-year-old has conceded an earned run in only four of his 13 appearances and has only allowed multiple runs in an outing once.
POWER LINEUP:
Ryan Ramiz — DH
Matt Sanders— 2B
Julio Rodriguez — RF
Bobby Honeyman — LF
Austin Shenton — 3B
Onil Pena — 1B
Dean Nevarez— C
Mike Salvatore— SS
Charlie McConnell — CF
Ryne Inman— RHP
GAME NOTES:
THE FLY SWATTER: Chandler turned in his second brilliant start against the Columbia Fireflies this season, hurling seven shutout innings and allowing three total baserunners, none of which made it past second base. The righty did not have to use more than 17 pitches in any inning. Overall, Chandler is 2–0 against the Fireflies this year with a spotless ERA, totaling 12 frames with 16 strikeouts. He worked through the seventh inning for the first time since June 4 at Hickory, and picked up his ninth quality start of the year (second-most on team, Steven Moyers, 12).
SWEET AS HONEY: Following a four-hit night with a double, an RBI and a run scored, Honeyman extended his hitting streak to 11 games, the longest active streak on the team. In this span, the infielder is averaging .370 (17-for-46) with a home run, five RBI and seven runs scored, and has only struck out six times. In fact, Honeyman has only fanned six times over his last 16 games, stretching across 65 at-bats. Honeyman is in the midst of his third hitting streak of eight games or more this season (May 13–20 and May 24-June 2 with identical .344 averages). The Stony Brook product is one of two batters with a hitting streak of 11 games or more this year (Jarred Kelenic, 18 games, April 11-May 2). Honeyman tallied the Power’s fourth four-hit game of the season, and his 20th multi-hit game (second-most on team).
HOMERS ON HOMERS ON HOMERS: Ramiz homered on back-to-back days for the first time this season. In total, the Power has now had a slugger go yard in consecutive games six times this year (Kelenic, 3x, April 26 and 27 vs. Asheville; May 21 and 22 vs. Greensboro and May 26 and 28 vs. Lexington; Onil Pena, 2x, May 13 vs. Kannapolis and May 14 at Charleston and July 13 and 14 at Greensboro). With Ramiz and Shenton going deep Monday, the Power now has 80 home runs as a team this year, third-most in the South Atlantic League behind Greensboro (93) and Hickory (105). West Virginia has homered 44 times in 46 home games, the fourth-most home long balls in the SAL (Hickory, 65).
RAH-RAH-RAH-RAMIZ: Ramiz has continued to uptick his offense over the last few weeks, hitting safely in 10 of his last 13 games, dating back to June 30. In that stretch, the New Jersey native is boasting a .296 (16-for-54) clip with four homers, 12 RBI, nine runs scored and eight walks. Ramiz notched his 17th multi-hit game of the season, tied for third-most on the team. His 48 walks are tied for third-most in the South Atlantic League with Greg Cullen (Rome), Cadyn Grenier (Delmarva) and Terrin Vavra (Asheville).
A NEW CREW: On Monday, the Seattle Mariners announced the following roster moves affecting the Power’s roster:
- C Dean Nevarez promoted to West Virginia from Short-Season Everett
- INF Austin Shenton promoted to West Virginia from Short-Season Everett
- RHP Evan Johnson promoted to West Virginia from Short-Season Everett
- RHP Reid Morgan promoted to West Virginia from Short-Season Everett
- INF Matt Sanders assigned to West Virginia from High-A Modesto
- INF Joseph Rosa promoted to High-A Modesto from West Virginia
- C David Sheaffer promoted to High-A Modesto from West Virginia
- LHP Steven Moyers promoted to High-A Modesto from West Virginia
- RHP Bryan Pall placed on the Power’s injured list
- INF J.R. Davis released from the Mariners organization
POWER POINTS: Charlie McConnell has not committed an error in 45 games… The Power has 10 shutout victories.
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. Tuesday’s pregame coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the West Virginia Power Baseball Network.
