York Walks Off to First Place

By Atlantic League Independent Wire Services on June 4, 2010

York, PA-  Ian Bladergroen’s second homer of the game was a two-run walkoff shot down the right field line in the bottom of the 13^th inning, giving the York Revolution a 7-5 victory over the Somerset Patriots at Sovereign Bank Stadium in the finale of a four-game home-and-home series. Yorks Thursday victory gives them sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Leagues Freedom Division.
With two outs, Bladergroen took a 1-2 Jesse Darcy offering high and deep to right field, sneaking it inside of the foul pole after Ramon Castro had led off the inning with a single. Darcy (1-3) was in his third inning of relief and was making his first appearance out of the Patriot bullpen since being moved out of the starting rotation.
Bladergroen notched five base hits including the game-tying solo homerun in the bottom of the 8^th inning off of Jeff Kennard. This came after Michael Hernandez, who tallied four hits of his own on the day, drove in a pair of unearned runs in the top of the inning, giving the Patriots a 5-4 lead. Both clubs had chances in the waning innings as Somerset put the go-ahead runs on base in the 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, and 13^th, while York had the winning runs on in the 9^th and 10^th against Carlos Hines and in the 11^th and 12^th against Darcy. York stranded seven men after the 8^th, leaving 15 total on base. Somerset left 11 runners aboard.
Mike Thompson had the ball for Somerset four hours prior to its end and was untouched through three innings as his offense staked him to a 3-0 lead on RBIs from Noah Hall, JR Hopf, and Wayne Lydon. James Shanks homered off of Thompson in the 4^th to put the Revolution on the board. After Thompson bounced back in the 5^th, Shanks was part of a three-run, four-hit attack leading off the next inning, putting the Revolution ahead 4-3 and pushing Thompson out of the game in line for the loss. Thompson finished 5.0-plus innings, allowing eight hits.
Derell McCall took the hill for York and threw 7.0 solid innings, allowing six hits and three runs, all of which came in the first two frames. The Oakland draft pick held the Patriots to just three hits over his final four innings, retiring 14 of the last 17 men he faced. After McCall exited, the Patriots got to their former reliever Ryan Basner with the Hernandez hit in the 8^th to take the lead, but could not tally a run against the rest of the York bullpen in extra innings.
Somerset (21-17) now returns home for a four-game weekend set with their cross-state rivals, the Newark Bears. Josh Miller (4-2, 3.67) faces off with left-hander Matt Smith (3-3, 3.27) in the opener on Friday night. The first 2,000 fans receive a Sparkee Five-Time Champions bobblehead, courtesy of AT&T at TD Bank Ballpark when gates open at 6:00 p.m. As always, coverage begins at 7:00 pm on 1450 WCTC-AM or online at www.wctcam.com and www.somersetpatriots.com.
NOTES: The Patriots left 21 men on base in the last two games, going 4-21 with runners in scoring position…the Patriots picked up just eight hits and one earned run (three total) in the series against York relievers who worked 16.2 innings. Basner allowed all three runs…the Patriots scored one run after the sixth inning in the series…Hernandez had a triple and three singles. David Housel pinch-ran for Hernandez in the 8^th and picked up a hit of his own in the 10^th…Brian Henderson pitched a scoreless 8^thDarcy pitched for the first time since starting on May 23Hopf had three hits while Elliott Ayala had two…the 13-inning, 4:01 contest counts as the longest game for the Patriots this seasonthe loss pushes the Patriots a game back of the Revolution, marking the first time since May 8 that Somerset has not been in first place.

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