Joseph Rosa’s tenth-inning pinch-hit single clinched the Bowie Baysox their second consecutive walk-off victory against the Richmond Flying Squirrels by a 4-3 final on Saturday night at Prince George’s Stadium.
Rosa’s heroics came on the back of another see-saw affair between Bowie and Richmond this week. Starting pitching dominated the early innings once again, as right-hander Chayce McDermott displayed a dominant performance on the mound. McDermott allowed just a single earned run across 5.2 innings – an RBI single to Vaun Brown in the third. The right-hander matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts on the evening, while allowing the lone run on just three hits and two walks.
The Baysox managed one run in four innings against Flying Squirrels’ right-handed starter Landen Roupp, as Anthony Servideo led off the bottom of the third inning with a double before he was plated on a Cesar Prieto RBI single. In the fifth, Richmond turned to its bullpen and right-handed reliever Matt Frisbee. Prieto singled off Frisbee for his third hit of the night with two outs. Then, Coby Mayo demolished a two-run home run off the top of the video board in left field – homering in his third straight games to give Bowie a 3-1 lead.
The Flying Squirrels tied the game in the top of the seventh on a Brandon Martorano two-run home run off Baysox right-hander Xavier Moore. From there, the game was a stalemate, thanks to effective work from both bullpens. Right-hander Conner Loeprich totaled 1.2 innings of scoreless relief before fellow right-hander Ofriedy Gomez took over in the top of the ninth. With runners on second and first, Gomez allowed a softly hit single to left field off the bat of Wade Meckler. The runner on second, Logan Wyatt, attempted to score on the play, but an on-target throw home from John Rhodes in left field gunned him out at the plate to keep the game tied.
After Bowie was unable to score in the bottom of the ninth, the game went to extra innings, where Baysox right-hander Kade Strowd (W, 3-1) generated three softly hit ground ball outs to prevent the free runner at second base from scoring in his scoreless frame. In the bottom of the tenth, right-hander Jose Cruz (L, 0-1) remained on the mound for Richmond and Billy Cook began the stanza out at second base for Bowie. Cook advanced to third on a deep fly out by Zach Watson before Rosa pinch-hit for Tim Susnara with two outs in the frame. Rosa then flared the one ball, one strike offering into shallow right field, allowing Cook to score from third and clinch the win for the Baysox.
Bowie’s fourth walk-off win of the season bumps its record to 27-34, moving the Baysox above the Flying Squirrels and into fifth place in the Southwest division standings. Bowie has now won nine of its last 12 games – its best stretch of the season. The win also clinches the first home series win of the season for the Baysox. Bowie will look to close out this seven-game set with Richmond on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch set for 1:05 p.m. ET from Prince George’s Stadium.
