Tony Peters

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Lorenzo Bagley and Greg Morrison drove in three runs each as the Hagerstown pitching staff continued to dominate the opposition, lifting the Suns to a 9-0 victory over the Charleston Alley Cats. Pitchers Clayton Andrews (4-3), Anthony Salley and Tim Huff combined on a three-hitter as the Suns won for the fifth straight time. The Suns have pitched 21 scoreless innings overall, and the bullpen has gone 22 innings without allowing a run. Hagerstown scored in bunches, sending at least eight hitters to the plate in their three scoring innings.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Billy Brown drove home the winning run with a single to center field in the seventh inning Wednesday to lift the Hagerstown Suns to a 5-4 South Atlantic League victory over the Charleston RiverDogs. Vernon Wells reached second on an infield single off reliever Elliott Brown and throwing error by shortstop Nestor Perez before scoring on Brown's hit. Hagerstown reliever Brian Bowles (1-1) got the win with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief with five strikeouts.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Light-hitting shortstop Cesar Izturis had three hits and three RBIs Tuesday night as the Hagerstown Suns built a big lead, then held on to defeat the Augusta GreenJackets, 10-5. Bobby Cripps also had a three-run homer and four RBIs for the Suns (20-25, 64-51 overall), who gave All-Star pitcher Clayton Andrews (8-7) some rare run support. The Suns opened the scoring with a run in the third. Josh Phelps and Izturis had back-to-back singles before Tony Peters grounded to second base.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Matt McClellan allowed only one hit over the final eight innings as the Hagerstown Suns won a pitching duel Thursday night with the Augusta GreenJackets, 3-1. McClellan (7-5) went the distance for his first complete-game victory of the season, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out three for the Suns (21-26, 65-52 overall). Down 1-0 in the fourth, Hagerstown tied the game. With one out, Greg Morrison singled before Lorenzo Bagley popped out. Morrison went to third on Bobby Cripps' single, and Tony Peters drove him in with another single.

BY BILL STERNER / Staff Correspondent Hagerstown Suns manager Marty Pevey just wanted to continue the trend. After suffering through a four-game losing streak, Hagerstown is now on the brink of sweeping the Hickory Crawdads after a 5-2 South Atlantic League victory Thursday night at Municipal Stadium. It was the Suns' third straight win and their tenth in eleven starts at home in May. "Everyone loves to play at home," Pevey said of a team that has posted a 17-5 record in Municipal Stadium this season.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - To put it simply, the Hagerstown Suns really don't like any game started in J.P. Riddle Stadium. Cape Fear won Saturday night's regularly scheduled game 6-4 against the Suns to salvage a split of a makeshift doubleheader. Hagerstown won the completion of the suspended game from July 30, 3-2. The loss in the nightcap dropped the Suns to 1-9 in games started at J.P. Riddle. But twice the Suns have been forced to complete a game there; they have won both.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Tony Peters blasted two home runs - including a sixth-inning grand slam - Friday to help the Hagerstown Suns break a three-game losing streak with a 10-2 South Atlantic League victory over the Asheville Tourists. Hagerstown (10-19, 54-45 overall) collected 15 hits, including three home runs, to break out of a prolonged hitting slump. Peters finished 3-for-5 with five RBIs and three runs scored. The victory made a 10-game winner out of starter John Sneed (10-2)

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Danny Bravo ripped a two-out RBI triple to score Karl Chatman from first base and break a 5-5 tie in the sixth Saturday, lifting the Cape Fear Crocs to a 9-5 win over the Hagerstown Suns. Hagerstown (27-22) scored four runs in the first inning and got a 4-for-4 game from Tony Peters, but failed to hold off the Crocs. Cape Fear opened an 8 1/2-game lead over the Suns in the South Atlantic League's Northern Division. The Suns held a 5-2 lead heading into the third until Talmadge Nunnari drove in a run and Noah Hall drove in two with singles to tie the game off Hagerstown starter Isabel Giron (2-4)

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The Hagerstown Suns left 11 men on base, including seven in the first five innings, to give little support to Leo Estrella in his Suns debut, a 5-4 loss Wednesday night to the Augusta GreenJackets. The Suns put up single runs in the top of the first, third and sixth innings, only to watch Estrella (0-1) give them back in the bottom half of each frame. But the Suns (20-26, 64-52 overall) could have given the right-hander plenty more support with some timely hits in the early stages - especially the third inning, where the Suns loaded the bases twice and only brought home one run. Estrella gave up two runs in the bottom of the sixth to give the GreenJackets a 4-3 lead, and Augusta scored again in the seventh off Colin Brackeen before the Suns made it interesting in the ninth.

by Richard T. Meagher / staff photographer see the enlargement Hagerstown Suns pitcher Matt McClellan had to resort to Plan B Wednesday night. --cont. from front page-- The Suns right-hander struggled with his fast ball all night, but was able to use his slider to throttle Hickory in Hagerstown's 5-1 win over the Crawdads at Municipal Stadium before 1,848 fans, the Suns' second straight win after a season-high four-game losing streak. "He struggled throwing his fastball for strikes the whole game," Suns manager Marty Pevey said.

Getting to the playoffs requires some memorable plays. Here are the top 10, in descending order, of course: Honorable Mention - Aug. 20 - Cesar Izturis' solo home run (the only one he hit in the season) seals a 5-4 win over Macon; Aug. 3 - Jesse Zepeda is selected to play for the Toronto Blue Jays in the Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown, N.Y.; Aug. 15 - Zepeda's grand slam before 3,236 fans to seal an 8-4 win and a doubleheader sweep of Charleston; June 2 - A game in Charleston is postponed by a tornado warning.

The Hagerstown Suns got an eviction notice and a pink slip in one fell swoop on Sunday. It was the day before Labor Day, but the Hagerstown Suns were out of work. The Suns were going home for the holiday in agonizing, uncharacteristic fashion. The Capital City Bombers put on a relentless display, cracking four home runs in the first five innings to knock the Suns out of the pitching penthouse and ending their season with a 9-1 defeat at Municipal Stadium. Clayton Andrews, who led the South Atlantic League with a 2.28 earned run average during the regular season, was victimized by Capital City's relentless attack, the hitting team in the league.

Hagerstown Suns manager Marty Pevey's favorite video is an action thriller with a lot of destruction and a happy ending. Forget Titanic. Pevey has been watching 1997 films of Greg Morrison during his triple-crown season at Medicine Hat. That's when the first baseman was at his best, hitting for average, power and production with a lost ability to drive the ball to the opposite field. On Saturday, film became reality, as Morrison went from screen star to center stage. The left-handed Morrison broke open a tie game with a two-out, two-run double on a drive to left off left-handed closer Shawn Barry to highlight a four-run eighth inning and lift the Suns to a come-from-behind 11-9 victory over Capital City Bombers at Municipal Stadium.

Greg Morrison had a little trouble grasping the concept of being the No. 4 hitter in the Hagerstown Suns' batting order, but considering Saturday's results, who cares? The first baseman was supposed to be the cleanup hitter, but the Suns benefited because Morrison was a litterbug. Morrison went 4-for-4 with a walk - falling a home run short of the cycle - to score four runs and drive in two others to help lead the Suns to a 12-3 shellacking of the Delmarva Shorebirds at Municipal Stadium.

The Hagerstown Suns pitching staff showed the heart of a cat burglar this week. They stole the power from Macon's Marcus Giles during a four-game series. It had Suns pitchers' fingerprints all over the scene because it was strictly an inside job. Giles came to town as one of the hottest hitters in the South Atlantic League with 34 home runs and 99 RBIs and a .329 batting average. He left Thursday night after going 7-for-18 (.388) - including one homer and six singles - with three RBIs, good for two additional points on the batting average.

Macon Braves manager Brian Snitker might have been better off starting a reliever Wednesday night against the Hagerstown Suns. The Macon bullpen held Hagerstown hitless through the last five innings, allowing just two base runners, while the Suns pitching staff was struggling. But the nine runs Hagerstown scored against Braves starter Joey Nation (6-11) was enough for a 9-6 South Atlantic League win before 1,352 fans at Municipal Stadium. Delmarva's 2-1 win over Columbus, however, keeps the Suns (75-55)

The Hagerstown Suns didn't leave much to the imagination or for analysis. The answer was simple. The Macon Braves made the best of what they had. Meanwhile, the Suns made a mess of what they had. The end result was Macon taking advantage of a three-run first inning Monday at Municipal Stadium in a 6-1 victory over the Suns, who took advantage of very little. "It was a tough game. They just came out and took care of business," Pevey said. "They made the most of what they were given, and we didn't.

Mike Strange isn't exactly a charity case, but he won't turn down any donations to his batting average. So Strange was thankful for the contribution made by the Charleston Alley Cats on Sunday. Strange took advantage of Charleston's soft defensive alignment to lay down a two-out, RBI bunt single to snap a 1-1 tie and lead the Hagerstown Suns to a 7-1 win over the Alley Cats and into a tie for the South Atlantic League Northern Division lead. "We're finally getting back to the way we played in the first half," Strange said.

Tony Peters and Jesse Zepeda became Hagerstown's resident conservationalists on Saturday. Both came up so big by trying to do so little. Peters clubbed a two-run homer in the opener and Zepeda came back with a grand slam in the six-run second inning of the nightcap to propel the Hagerstown Suns to a 2-1 and 8-4 doubleheader sweep of the Charleston Alley Cats before 3,236 fans at Municipal Stadium. Pitching should have headed the show for the Suns with their two aces - John Sneed and Clayton Andrews - working the twinbill.

Corey Taylor and Sandro Garcia should consider themselves lucky. They got to bat for the Charleston (W.Va.) Alley Cats 10 minutes before Joe Young took the mound for the Hagerstown Suns. Charleston's two leadoff men got their team on the scoreboard against a reasonable facsimile of Young. But Hagerstown's right-hander punched the clock after that, getting to work to fire seven innings of four-hit pitching Thursday to lead the Suns to a 7-4 victory at Municipal Stadium. Taylor led off with a bloop to right field that bounced past Lorenzo Bagley and scored on Garcia grounder to deep short.