Lakewood

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - The Hagerstown Suns dropped to 2-4 on their current road trip as Lakewood took advantage of a walk and an error in a three-run seventh inning to beat the Suns 6-4 on Saturday. The Suns tried to rally, getting a pair of runs in the top of the eighth on Leivi Ventura's seventh homer of the season, a two-run shot. But the Suns were retired in order in the ninth. Lakewood starter Maximino De La Cruz (3-1) struck out seven Suns in seven innings of work. Ventura and Sanchez each had two hits for Hagerstown (17-23)

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Two wrongs didn't make a right for the Hagerstown Suns on Friday. Hagerstown allowed eight walks and committed two costly errors while dropping a 10-2 decision to Lakewood for a split of their four-game series. Lakewood capitalized on numerous bases-loaded situations to score its final nine runs. Meanwhile, Hagerstown (27-15) squandered prime scoring situations in each of the first four innings to fall behind. Lakewood moved to a 4-0 lead against hagerstown starter Blake Eager when Sam Orr hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly and Jason Jaramillo added a two-run double in the third.

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Three consecutive walks in the second inning led to three Lakewood runs, and three BlueClaws pitchers held Hagerstown to four hits as the Suns dropped a 5-2 decision on Sunday. Hagerstown starter Juan Serrato (4-2) retired the first four batters he faced, but walks to Bryan Hansen, Jose Cortez and Omar Bramasco came back to bite him when the bottom two hitters in Lakewood's lineup - Nick Italiano and Chris Klemm - hit RBI singles. Javon Moran's RBI fielder's choice scored a third.

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Carlos Monasterios and Michael Dubee held Hagerstown to a single hit, while Lakewood got four of its six hits in a three-run fifth inning to lead the BlueClaws to a 5-1 win over the Suns on Tuesday. The Suns scored a run in the first without a hit. Alex Nunez walked, took second on a balk, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Chris Marrero's groundout. Lakewood got the run back in the bottom of the inning as Quintin Berry doubled and moved around on a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly. Joe Napoli got the Suns' only hit leading off the second, but he was quickly erased trying to steal second.

At only 17 years of age, Hagerstown Suns pitcher Deolis Guerra is a minor. But by baseball statutes, the Venezuelan was major Sunday night. Guerra scattered four hits through 6 1/3 innings - his longest outing of the season - to silence Lakewood and guide the Suns to an 8-1 victory before a crowd of 4,188 at Municipal Stadium. Guerra, who dropped a pair of two-inning decisions to Lakewood in May to start his career, struck out six and walked two. "The first couple of times out, he was just getting his feet wet in professional baseball," said Suns manager Frank Cacciatore.

Michael Burgess has leadership where he'd like -- home runs -- and where he'd like not to -- strikeouts -- when it comes to offensive categories for the Hagerstown Suns. On Monday night at Municipal Stadium, Burgess had one of each and it was the home run that outweighed the other as the Suns downed Lakewood 6-2 in the opener of a three-game series. Burgess launched his fourth four-bagger of the year deep over the right-field wall in the bottom of the first inning that boosted Hagerstown (8-10)

Baseball is a game of give and take. Sometimes you give the beating. The other times you take it. The Hagerstown Suns gave it on Monday and took it on Tuesday. Lakewood returned all of the favors the Suns enjoyed on Monday by jumping out to an early lead from the first batter and grinding out a 10-3 victory. "We jumped on them early (Monday) and they jumped on us early today," Suns manager Darnell Coles said. "We did it to them yesterday and they did it to us today.

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Lakewood used three Hagerstown errors to score four unearned runs on Saturday as the BlueClaws notched an 8-5 victory over the Suns. Lakewood scored six runs in the fifth inning and added two more in the sixth to erase the Suns early 2-0 lead. Ryan Sadowski took the loss after allowing six runs in his five innings, but three of them were unearned. Derrick Barrows hit a home run for the Suns, while Jay Knowlton had three hits and an RBI. Hagerstown has lost three straight games.

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - A pair of Lakewood errors and an intentional walk in the ninth inning loaded the bases for Hagerstown's Joe Napoli, who drew a walk of his own to force in the winning run and give the Suns a 2-1 victory over the BlueClaws in the season final. Hagerstown finished 26-43 in the second half and 55-81 overall. Robert Jacobsen's RBI double in the second inning scored Trevor Lawhorn - who reached on an error - to give the Suns a 1-0 lead. Lakewood tied the game in the fourth on Welinson Baez's RBI double.

Carlos Lopez went 3-for-4, Mike McQuillan hit his first home run of the season and the Hagerstown Suns defeated the Lakewood BlueClaws 6-3 on Tuesday night. The Suns jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and held on for their second straight win to improve to 3-3. The BlueClaws fell to 1-5. Hagerstown went up 4-0 in the top of the first inning against Lakewood's Jordan Guth (0-2). Tony Renda reached on an error to start the game, and McQuillan followed with a home run to right field for a 2-0 Suns lead.

The Lakewood BlueClaws pounded Hagerstown pitching for 15 hits to back a solid start by Colin Kleven in a 10-3 victory over the Suns in Wednesday's South Atlantic League game at Municipal Stadium. The Suns (61-41, 19-14) had a four-game winning streak snapped and fell into a first-place tie with Hickory atop the Northern Division, with the BlueClaws (44-58, 18-15) a game back. Lakewood took a 1-0 lead in the first inning off Hagerstown starter Bobby Hansen Jr. (2-2), who walked Tim Carver and Alejandro Villalobos to start the game.

The Hagerstown Suns are nothing if not dramatic. For the third straight night, the Suns waited until the last minute to score to complete a final charge to victory, this time a 5-4 win on Friday over Lexington. Hagerstown scored in the eighth inning on Wednesday and Thursday to stop the Legends. Ironically, the Suns found themselves on the other end while losing four of five games against Lakewood earlier in the week. On Friday, Steven Souza Jr. doubled in with two outs in the ninth to score Billy Burns from first with the winning run. Burns reached on a single after a hit by Brian Goodwin.

Brett Newsome and Cole Leonida each went 3-for-5 and Justin Miller extended his hitting streak to nine games as the Hagerstown Suns held off a late rally to beat the Lakewood BlueClaws 11-9 on Sunday afternoon. Hagerstown (8-3, 49-31) took a 2-0 lead in the first on an RBI single by Steven Souza and a Lakewood error. After the BlueClaws got one back in the bottom of the first, the Suns made it 5-1 in the third. Consecutive one-out singles by Cutter Dykstra and Caleb Ramsey set the table for Miller, who blasted a two-out homer to left  - his sixth of the season.

The Hagerstown Suns may feel this loss for a few days. The Suns took a 6-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning against Lakewood on Saturday night, only to watch the BlueClaws rally back, finally taking the lead with a four-run eighth inning for a shocking 12-9 victory in the South Atlantic League game. Hagerstown (48-31, 6-4) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning against BlueClaws starter Yari Sosa. Brian Goodwin led off with a double, Cutter Dykstra walked and one out later, Matthew Skole walked to load the bases.

Maikel Franco's grand slam capped Lakewood's five-run eighth-inning rally that broke a 1-1 tie as the BlueClaws snapped the Hagerstown Suns' four-game winning streak with a 6-1 victory Friday night in the South Atlantic League. Suns reliever Josh Smoker (0-1) entered to start the eighth and walked leadoff hitter Tim Carver. He took second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a flyout. Brock Stassi walked before Christopher Duffy's RBI single to center scored Carver for a 2-1 BlueClaws lead.

The Hagerstown Suns are starting to show the tendency of vampires and gremlins. They all seem to only come out at night. Hagerstown continued to show its difficulties in playing daytime baseball as Lakewood used a four-run first inning and rode it to a 5-3 victory on Sunday before 1,079 fans at Municipal Stadium. The loss allowed the BlueClaws to split the opening four-game series in the second half of the South Atlantic League season. Maybe more importantly, it dropped the Suns (44-29, 2-2)

The Hagerstown Suns know how to perform in character. While dressed in dark blue Union Army jerseys, Hagerstown conquered with a Hill to claim victory in a Civil War themed night. Taylor Hill came on in relief in the second inning and pitched seven strong innings to lead the Suns to a 5-1 victory over Lakewood before 1,506 fans at Municipal Stadium. Hill, who was scheduled to start, replaced Washington Nationals pitcher Cole Kimball after a one-inning rehabilitation start and took total control of Lakewood's offense.

The Hagerstown Suns wrapped up a highly successful six-game series at Lakewood with Sunday's 7-6 victory over the BlueClaws in the South Atlantic League The Suns (29-20), who won five of six in the series, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Brian Goodwin hit a leadoff double and later scored on a wild pitch. The BlueClaws (19-30) answered in the bottom half when Aaron Altherr doubled and scored on right fielder Caleb Ramsey's error to tie the game at 1. Hagerstown took a 3-1 lead in the second.

The Hagerstown Suns proved that clutch hitting is sometimes overrated. The Suns used an RBI single, two run-scoring groundouts and a bases-loaded walk to get all the offense they needed on Friday to post a 4-2 victory over Lakewood for their third-straight win. Adrian Nieto had one single, but drove in two runs - one with a groundout in the fourth and the other with a walk in the eighth - to pace Hagerstown (27-19). Hagerstown starter Kylin Turnbull (2-3) allowed a run on five hits with six strikeouts to get the victory.