BOWIE, Md. – The Bowie Baysox dropped their fifth-straight contest Wednesday night, with a 9-3 defeat at the hands of the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
At first, it looked as though the early part of the game would fall in Bowie’s favor, when the Baysox loaded the bases in the bottom of the first with no outs. However, Bowie was unable to plate a run in the frame, with the next three batters being retired in order by Richmond starter Nick Zwack.
Richmond would then seize momentum in the top of the second, when the Flying Squirrels struck for three runs in the frame off three consecutive two-out hits against Baysox starter Connor Gillispie. Riley Mahan kicked off the stretch with a double before Hayden Cantrelle doubled him home. Carter Williams would immediately follow with a two-run home run to make it 3-0 Richmond.
The Baysox would get one back in the bottom half, as Heston Kjerstad tripled off the wall in center field to score Jacob Teter and make it a 3-1 game. However, Richmond’s bats would continue to pile on throughout the evening. The Flying Squirrels added on a run in the third via a Carter Aldrete single and another in the fifth, courtesy of an Andy Thomas RBI single. This stretched Richmond’s lead to 5-1.
Bowie would again bounce back. First, Kjerstad launched his Eastern League-leading sixth home run as a solo shot to lead off the bottom half of the fifth. A pair of walks to Donta’ Williams and Ramon Rodriguez in the bottom of the sixth set the stage for Jacob Teter to pick up his first career Double-A RBI on a single that plated Williams to make it a 5-3 Flying Squirrels lead.
Despite Bowie getting within striking distance, Kjerstad would ground out to end the sixth, and the Baysox would not come closer the remainder of the night. Richmond would send all nine batters to the plate in the top of the seventh and plate four runs. Ismael Munguia led off the inning by reaching on an error and scored on a wild pitch. While Thomas, Aldrete, and Cantrelle all collected RBI hits in the frame.
The Baysox would not have one last rally in them, as they would be held scoreless in the later innings once again by the Richmond bullpen. The loss is Bowie’s seventh in the last eight games and drops its record to 5-11 – five-and-a-half games back of the Flying Squirrels for first place in the Southwest division. The two sides will square off again tomorrow night at Prince George’s Stadium, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. ET.
