Today would have been a good day to bring a net and roam beyond the outfield wall. The Bowie Baysox out-blasted the Altoona Curve on Thursday night 11-8 to win their second-consecutive game. Bowie and Altoona each clubbed three home runs, with Connor Norby collecting his second multi-home run game in Double-A.
Blasting off to a five-run lead, Norby got Bowie started with a two-run home run in the first inning, his 10th of the season with Bowie. Norby added a sacrifice fly in the second inning, and a two-run single by Colton Cowser in the third quickly knocked starter Aaron Shortridge from the game.
Despite the large lead, however, Altoona was content to match blows. Aaron Shackleford and Endy Rodriguez blasted home runs against Cade Povich, a three-run and two-run shot, respectively, to tie the game at five.
Povich (W, 1-0) was still in the record in the bottom of the fifth inning, though, when Cody Roberts broke the briefly tied game with a two-run home run against Jeffery Passantino (L, 2-2), making it 7-5.
When Altoona turned to Bear Bellomy in the sixth, the lead was rebuilt to five runs, as Norby took the reliever deep to open his outing for Norby’s second of the day. Bowie added two more runs in a double by Coby Mayo, and it was 10-5. Norby added one more sacrifice fly in the seventh for Bowie’s 11th run, capping a five-RBI day.
Noah Denoyer took three innings of relief for Bowie, his first appearance following a brief Injured List stint, and struck out seven batters over three innings, but did allow a three-run home run to Nick Gonzalez in the seventh inning.
Conner Loeprich logged his fifth save of the season with a perfect ninth inning.
Combined with an Erie SeaWolves loss, Bowie moves back into sole possession of first place in the Southwest Division. Bowie jumps up to 58-59 on the season, and 31-17 in the second half, and will continue their series with Altoona on Friday, with a first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
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