In front of 4,414 fans at Regency Furniture Stadium, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs used six pitchers and scattered only four hits en route to a 3-1 opening night victory over the Bridgeport Bluefish. The win marks the first victory on opening night for Southern Maryland since their inaugural season in 2008.
Starter Ian Marshall fired four scoreless innings in his season debut before giving way to the bullpen. Jake Brown (1-0) was the first pitcher out of the bullpen and threw 1.2 scoreless innings and earned the victory. Eric Massingham, Erik Hamren and Charlie Manning combined for 2.1 hitless frames before closer Jim Ed Warden came on in the 9th to record his first save of the season.
Southern Maryland (1-0) broke the scoreless tie with a three-run fifth inning. Amadeo Zazeuta led off with a single and moved up to second base on a single by John Bowden.
After Jeremy Owens dropped down a sacrifice bunt, Brian Barton doubled off the base of the wall in left-center field to give the Blue Crabs the lead. Jake Opitz followed with an RBI single to bring in Barton and extend the lead to 3-0.
Bridgeport (0-1) scraped across their only run in the 9th inning. With one out and runners at first and second, J.R. Towles doubled to left field to end the shutout and make the score 3-1. Bridgeport had two chances with the tying run out at second base but Warden got a strikeout and a groundout to end the game.
D.J. Mitchell (0-1) made the opening night start for the Bluefish and suffered the loss. He went the first 4.1 innings surrendering three runs on seven hits while striking out two batters.
The Blue Crabs and Bluefish will continue their four-game series tomorrow night at 7:05 ET when Southern Maryland sends left-hander Brian Burres (0-0, 0.00) to the mound against Bridgeport lefty Hunter Jones (0-0, 0.00) at Regency Furniture Stadium.
Purchase tickets for the game by visiting www.somdbluecrabs.com or calling 301-638-9788.
