Blue Rocks First to 10 Wins in SAL Following 6-4 Win

April 20, 2024 – South Atlantic League (SAL)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release

A three-run seventh inning carried the Wilmington Blue Rocks through the night, as they defeated the Greenville Drive 6-4 on Saturday, April 20.

In the top of the second inning, an error following a walk from Juan Chacon led the Drive to have runners on first and third with no outs.

Blue Rocks starter Riley Cornelio was able to get Miguel Ugeto to ground into a double-play, but Chacon was able to score and give the Drive the early lead.

Wilmington bounced back right away in the second, loading the bases and scoring T.J White on a sacrifice fly from John McHenry to tie the score at one apiece.

In the top of fourth, the Drive retook the lead at 2-1 after a walk and two doubles brought home Chacon for the second time.

The game went back and forth early on, and in the fifth, the Blue Rocks took the lead after a sacrifice bunt from Johnathon Thomas scored T.J White and a wild pitch brought in Marcus Brown.

Cornelio bounced back from a tough performance his last time out, going five solid innings, striking out seven while allowing just two hits, two runs, and one earned run.

Viandel Pena singled in the seventh inning, scoring John McHenry to put the Blue Rocks up two. The hit started a trend of solid contact, where Daylin Lile hit a sacrifice fly to score Johnathon Thomas, and Kevin Made roped a double to left, scoring Pena from first and pushing the lead to 6-2.

Wilmington’s bullpen allowed the Drive to fight back in the eighth and ninth, giving a run in each of the innings, but the seventh inning rally from the Blue Rocks put the game a little too far out of reach.

Johnathon Thomas made a beautiful diving catch on a line drive in the ninth to end the game. Without the catch, the Drive would’ve been down one run with a runner in scoring position.

After an exciting 6-4 finish tonight, the Blue Rocks have taken four out of five from the Drive, with the final game of this series coming tomorrow at 1:05 p.m.

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