Waldorf, MD – The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs’ 2015 Season Opener started off as a pitcher’s duel. While both the Blue Crabs and Somerset Patriots were getting hits, they couldn’t drive in their teammates.

The first run of the game was scored in the top of the 5th, when Somerset right fielder Scott Cousins got a base hit, stole second and third base during the next at-bat, and was driven in by a sacrifice fly to the left fielder.

The Pirates held a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth. In the bottom half of the fifth, the Blue Crabs shortstop Jake Opitz blasted a home run to right field to even the game up at 1. That cost the Pirates starting pitcher his stay on the mound, as before Opitz finished rounding the bases, manager Brett Jodie was trotting out to the mound to get his starting pitcher.

The score remained tied until the top of the 8th inning, when Somerset pushed a run across with no outs.

The leadoff man reached on a blooper into right field. The second man in the inning, hit a toughly fielded ball to 3rd baseman Brandon Snyder, who tried for the double play. The runner on second beat the throw, and slid in hard, resulting in Opitz throwing the ball away. Runners advanced to 2nd and 3rd with no outs. The next batter Jonny Tucker hit a deep fly ball to center, and scored his teammate on 3rd. After an inning-ending double play the next at-bat, the score stood at 2-1 Somerset. The Blue Crabs couldn’t get a hit in the 8th, and we went into the 9th with a score of 2-1.

In the top of the 9th, the Pirates pushed across 4 runs. They started off with a blooper single by Matt Gamel, and a double by Chris Marrero. Scott Cousins drove both of them in on a single to the left-center gap. The next batter, former Baltimore Oriole, Robert Andino reached on a hit to shallow right, and Cousins advanced to third on the hit. After an infield pop-up, and a walk to Adam Donachie, Jonny Tucker supplied a fielders choice. The next pitch was wild, and Andino scored to make the score 6-1.

Going into the bottom of the 9th, the Blue Crabs got two hits, but couldn’t push anyone across the plate as the game ended with a Brandon Snyder strikeout. The final was 6-1.

In the locker room after the game, manager Stan Cliburn said “This was a loss I can hold my head high on when I leave tonight. We had 14 hits, but just couldn’t drive anything in. That’s a fixable problem.”

The Blue Crabs were postponed due to rain on Saturday Night, but played two seven-inning games vs. the Patriots Sunday, April 26.

Contact Max Tayman at news@thebaynet.com