WILMINGTON, Del. — A back and forth outing that featured four lead changes and two ties went down to the wire as the Hub City Spartanburgers defeated the Wilmington Blue Rocks, 6-5, on Wednesday, at Frawley Stadium.
In the top of the sixth with two outs, Hub City infielder Chandler Pollard lifted a shallow fly ball that hit off Elijah Nunez’s glove in left field. The ball hit the ground and allowed the Spartanburgers to take the lead.
Arturo Disla added the sixth and winning run on a hard hit single for Hub City to start the series, 2-0.
Elijah Green who went 2-for-4 with a home run in back to back games in the loss. It was his third homer of the season.
“A lot of it is just the support from the team,” Green said. “They’re always positive and just let me be me and have fun, so I give a lot of credit to my teammates.”
Green, who is mostly known for his power potential, said his aim isn’t for the long ball.
“Honestly, more contact,” Green said. “That’s the main thing for me. The plan is singles up the middle, and if it ends up going over the fence, it ends up going over the fence.”
No. 9 prospect Devin Fitz-Gerald started the game with a lead off hom erun, his second of the season. Fitz-Gerals went 1-for-1 with 2 walks, and a hit by pitch.
For “Fitz”, as manager Ted Tom calls him, his approach like Green’s approach is all about controlling the at bat.
“I’m just trying to win each pitch,” Fitz-Gerald said. “I don’t really look at myself as a power guy. I look at myself as a guy that hits and runs into balls here and there.”
It is certainly worked for Fitz-Gerald, who is slashing a .333 batting average, .478 on base percentage, and slugging .583. with a 1.061 OPS. Fitz-Gerald has six RBIs and eight stolen bases through ten games.
Tom applauded the patient approach for Fitz-Gerald and No. 12 prospect Ethan Petry who combined for all of Wilmington’s four walks.
“It’s a matter of getting comfortable in the batter’s box, knowing what you’re capable of, and getting your best swing off on a pitch you can drive,” Tom said. “It’s good to see Elijah have success the last couple nights, and up and down the lineup guys are putting together good at-bats.”
As for the pitching, Tom had positives despite the losing two straight.
“I think our guys compete on the mound, right? From time to time, we’re gonna make mistakes,” Tom said. “There’s some pitch sequencing that we can clean up a little bit, but at the end of the day, just minimize those mistakes. But our guys competed on the mound.”
Blue Rocks starter Liam Sullivan battled through four innings and allowed three runs on six hits.
Tom emphasized that the team has little time to dwell on the loss and urges his team to move onto the next.
“The good thing is we get to play every day,” Tom said. “We get a chance to come out early tomorrow, clean some things up, and show up at 6:35 ready to go.”
Fitz-Gerald echoed that mindset as Wilmington now looks to bounce back after dropping the first two games of the series.
“You take it one game at a time,” Fitz-Gerald said. “You play six times a week, so you can’t let one go bad. You’ve just got to get the next one.”
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