The Akron RubberDucks took a commanding 2-0 lead in the Double-A Northeast League Championship Series on Wednesday night, surviving a late rally to beat the Bowie Baysox 8-5 in the final game of 2021 at Prince George’s Stadium.
The scoring started early for Akron, with Brayan Rocchio driving in Will Brennan on a sacrifice fly just two batters into the game. Akron plated one more in the first to jump in front 2-0.
Bowie responded in the bottom of the second, as Gunnar Henderson hit his first Double-A home run, an opposite field homer to left.
The RubberDucks answered for four of their own in their next at-bat, all charged to Bowie starter Grayson Rodriguez. In the end, Rodriguez allowed six runs (the most of his 2021 season), five of them earned, on six hits, with one walk and four strikeouts over 2.2 innings.
David Lebron entered for the Baysox and threw 4.1 innings in relief, allowing one run on three hits with a walk and six strikeouts.
Tyler Burch and Steven Klimek also came out of the bullpen for Bowie, with Burch throwing a scoreless eighth and Klimek allowing one run in the ninth with no walks and a strikeout.
Bowie looked to put a rally together in the late stages of the game, scoring two in the seventh to draw within four at 7-3.
Then in the ninth, after Akron scored a run in their half, Bowie saw the first three batters reach. Henderson got to first on an error to start the inning, Chris Hudgins singled behind him, and Greg Cullen doubled to allow them both to score. With two outs and the tying run at the plate, Zach Watson grounded out to short to end the game.
In the first two games of the series, Akron’s two starters have combined to throw 12 innings and allow just two runs on three hits, with two walks and 18 strikeouts. Xzavion Curry, Akron’s starter on Wednesday, was the winning pitcher in the contest.
On Friday in game three, a game that Bowie must win to keep their title hopes alive, the Baysox will send left-hander Drew Rom (3-1, 3.83 ERA) to the mound to put his 14-inning scoreless streak on the line. First pitch at Canal Park in Akron is set for 6:05 p.m.
The 2021 season has been presented by Money One Federal Credit Union.
