Shorebirds

The Hagerstown Suns took the lead for good in the sixth inning, then pulled away from the Delmarva Shorebirds 7-3 in a South Atlantic League game Monday night. The Suns (45-29, 3-2) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning against Shorebirds starter Parker Bridwell. Brian Goodwin led off the game with a double and scored on Cutter Dykstra's ground-rule double. Delmarva (28-45, 0-4) struck back for a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first against Hagerstown starter Christopher McKenzie.

Steven Souza had three of Hagerstown's 11 hits, including a home run and a double, and drove in four runs as the Suns defeated the Delmarva Shorebirds 13-5 on Sunday at Municipal Stadium. Cutter Dykstra and Jason Martinson also homered for the Suns (33-23) and finished with two hits each. Dykstra had four RBIs. Martinson's seventh long ball of the season - a solo shot in the first - gave the Suns a 1-0 lead and upped his league leading RBI total to 56. Souza's eighth homer of the year - a solo shot in the third - put Hagerstown up 4-2. The Suns broke the game open with a six-run fourth, highlighted by Dykstra's three-run homer and Souza's two-run double.

The Hagerstown Suns found out why every single inning and every single out is precious Saturday. For that matter, so did the Delmarva Shorebirds. Delmarva proved how valuable the late innings are during the first game of a doubleheader as it scored eight runs in the final two innings to steal a heartbreaking 8-6 victory away from the Suns. The Suns came back behind a strong start by Alex Meyer to post a 7-2 victory in the nightcap. For the first 15 outs of the seven-inning affair, the Shorebirds were a nonfactor.

Friday, June 1, 2012 HAGERSTOWN SUNS The Hagerstown Suns' game against the Delmarva Shorebirds on Friday at Municipal Stadium was postponed due to inclement weather. It will be made up Saturday as part of a doubleheader, beginning at 6:05 p.m. Friday's game was to benefit the Mitchell Akers Leopard Spirit Memorial Scholarship Fund. That benefit game was rescheduled to Sunday's 1:05 p.m. game against Delmarva. Tickets purchased for Friday's postponed game will be honored for Sunday's game, as well as any other Suns regular-season home games.

The Hagerstown Suns won a game of give and take on Thursday. Delmarva gave extra outs and the Suns took advantage of them. The Suns scored six unearned runs as the Shorebirds committed four critical errors to help blow the lid off a 12-0 victory before 1,705 fans at Municipal Stadium. Jason Martinson drove in four runs while Billy Burns and Justin Miller added three RBIs each as the Suns pounded out 13 hits against three Delmarva pitchers. Second-place Hagerstown (31-22)

If statistics mean anything, the Hagerstown Suns knew they needed to be near-perfect to have a shot against Dylan Bundy. They weren't … but Delmarva's starting pitcher nearly was. Bundy, the Baltimore Orioles' top pitching prospect, coasted through five innings, allowing just one hit on the way to his first professional victory as the Shorebirds grabbed a 3-1 win over the Suns on Sunday before 1,991 fans at Municipal Stadium. The 19-year-old right-hander retired the first 12 Suns he faced before Matt Skole broke the streak with a first-pitch double into the right-field corner leading off the fifth.

Delmarva employed the Noah's Ark method to finally knock off the Hagerstown Suns. The Shorebirds did everything in twos. Delmarva used three-hit nights by Jason Esposito and Mychal Givens, along with Nick Delmonico's three-run homer, to grab a 9-1 victory over the Suns on Saturday before 1,712 fans at Municipal Stadium. The Shorebirds paired key triples, singles and homers to construct a three-run third and a four-run seventh inning to end the Suns' six-game winning streak.

The Hagerstown Suns continued to swing potent bats on Thursday. The Suns opened the game with four runs in the first inning and put it away with four in the seventh to claim a 13-11 win over Delmarva for their fifth-straight victory. Cutter Dykstra and Jason Martinson drove in three runs each as Hagerstown (22-15) tightened its hold on second place in the South Atlantic League's Northern Division but remain six games behind division-leading Greensboro. Dykstra tied the game at 1-1 in the first with a leadoff home run off of Delmarva starter Zach Davies.

SALISBURY, Md. - Hagerstown starter Matt Grace baffled Delmarva on one hit for seven innings on Friday to allow the Suns to slip away with a 6-1 victory. The Shorebirds' Tyler Kelly broke up Grace's no-hitter with a one-out single in the fourth inning for the only hit the left-hander allowed. Grace (11-5) allowed three walks and four strikeouts in his stint to go 4-0 in his last nine outings since June 15. Delmarva put two runners on in the fourth as Jeremy Nowak followed Kelly's single with a walk.

Three Hagerstown pitchers held Delmarva to six hits and the Suns made an early 5-0 lead stand up in a 6-2 victory over the Shorebirds on Thursday night. Paul Applebee (6-2) picked up the victory for Hagerstown, allowing just two hits in five innings while striking out three. Chris McKenzie gave up two runs and three hits in two innings of work and Dean Weaver earned his first save of the year with two innings of one-hit ball. The Suns (63-52, 23-22 second half) scored a pair of runs in the top of the first off Delmarva starter Matt Bywater (0-2)