Suns crabby after close loss to BlueClaws

August 29, 2008

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - The Hagerstown Suns went down swinging on Thursday.

But in the end, they still went down.

Hagerstown tried to rally in the ninth but fell a run short, 2-1 to the Lakewood BlueClaws to tarnish a creditable start by starter Osvaldo Rodriguez.

Rodriguez allowed a run on six hits in six innings and left trailing 1-0, but the Suns failed to get enough offense to help him.

Instead, Lakewood scored single runs in the fourth and seventh innings and made them stand out for the victory.

Hagerstown pushed Lakewood closer Jaren Simon to the limit, scratching out a run in the ninth, but ran out of outs.

Blake Stouffer hit a one-out single and took second on Bryan Miller's grounder to short. Garrett Bass drove in the run with a single to left.

Mark Gildea lined to short to end the game.

Simon, Lakewood's third pitcher, earned his eighth save while preserving the win for Mike Stutes.

Lakewood scored in the fourth when Tim Kennelly doubled and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

The lead moved to 2-0 in the seventh when Travis Mattair led off with a single against reliever Dan Leatherman and eventually scored on Derrick Mitchell's double.

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