The Sharks are halfway through their busy homestand.  The Military All-Stars exhibition game was a success, with three games remaining this week.  Let's take a look back from the past week.

Weekly Review June 19th

Wilmington 4 – Florence 13

The Sharks plated four in the bottom of the ninth but the Redwolves bats were too much as they knocked 15 hits to beat the Sharks 13-4. 

Florence started out hot by posting two runs in the top of the first, all with two outs off of Sharks starter Matt Freeman.  Florence added a single run off Freeman in the second then two more in the fifth.

Matt Patterson came on in relief in the sixth and gave up four earned runs on five hits in his two innings of relief.  Peter Larson was tagged for four earned runs in just two thirds of an inning.

The Sharks managed just one run and only four hits going into their final at bat.  Cory Lyda did lead of the inning with a double down the left field line and a bases loaded walk drove him home two batters later.  Mike Alvarez picked up an RBI single scoring Bobby Leeper but all this was too little two late in the loss.

Freeman took the loss going five innings giving up five runs on seven hits striking out 3.  Redwolves starter L.A. Owens got the win throwing seven, giving up just an unearned run.

Wilmington 5 – Columbia 1

Starting pitcher Eric Callender shut out the Blowfish through seven innings to pick up his second win of the season in a 5-1 victory.  Callender allowed just six hits, striking out three in his third start of the season.  Blowfish ground out helped speed the game along early until the Sharks got on the board with three in the 6th inning.

Jarred Jimenez led off the inning with a single, then stole second and ended up on third after a passed ball.  Matt Kirchner worked a walk in front of Cory Lyda who placed a bunt just past the pitchers mound for an infield single to drive in Jimenez.  After a double steal, Kirchner came home from third on a grounder by Bobby Leeper.  The third run came home when Lyda scored on a passed ball.

 The Sharks plated two more in the seventh when Justice French and Kolby Epley hit back to back doubles.  A double play ball off the bat of Lyda scored Epley from third two batters later.  Callender retired Columbia in the bottom of the seventh and handed a 5-0 lead to the bullpen.  After Kyle Deese gave up a single run in the eighth and Cory Burgess loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth, the win looked in jeopardy.  However, Jarad Miller came in and retired the next three batters to nail down the win.  The Sharks are now 5-7 on the season.

Wilmington 9 – Columbia 6

After being down early the Sharks walked and dashed their way to seven unanswered runs to beat Columbia 9-6.   

Runs in the 5th, 6th, and the 7th fueled the Shark come from behind win at Buck Hardee field.  The Wilmington club, at one time behind 4-0, trailed 6-2 headed into bottom of the 6th.  Justice French led off the inning with his third single of the night.  After a walk to Kolby Epley, Ben Kline singled French home to cut the lead to 6-3.  The Sharks would use five walks in the inning to score three more runs and tie the score.

Wilmington took the lead for good in the bottom of the 7th, with the help of a little pure base running excitement.  After another Epley walk to lead off the frame, Kline traded places on a fielders choice.  After two more walks and a pop out, Kline was at third with two down.  With Bobby Leeper at the plate, Kline broke from third on the pitch and stole home just ahead of the tag from the Columbia catcher.  That run put the Sharks ahead for good as Mike Alvarez drove in two insurance runs with a single to put the lead at 9-6.

Starter Ryan Vander Tuig was touched up for six runs as he worked into the 6th inning.  But the relief combination of Matt Patterson and Tyler White held the ‘Fish in check for the final three innings to bring home the win.

Wilmington 5 –Fayetteville 32

Seven Sharks pitchers batted and six position players pitched for Wilmington in a loss to Fayetteville Saturday night.

Dan Gerjets started and took the loss giving up the first nine runs, eight earned in just two innings of work.  Brett Bloomquist gave up 12 more runs, eight earned, and Peter Larson worked a scoreless inning and a third.

In a reversal of rolls, position players Cory Lyda, Mike Alvarez, John Nester, Daniel Parker and Neal Pritchard all came in to pitch.  Only Alvarez held the Swampdogs off the board with a scoreless 8th inning.

The roll reversal continued into the top of the ninth with the Sharks trailing 32-1, seven sharks pitchers broke out the bats.  Tyler White and Kyle Deese both had RBI singles, driving in Ryan Vander Tuig and Eric Callender who reached to lead off the inning.  Cory Burgess, Matt Patterson and Bryant Gaines also batted as the Sharks sent ten to the plate and scored four runs. 

Wilmington 0 – Wilson 1
Wilmington 3 – Wilson 1

The Sharks could not get the bats going in the first game losing to Wilson 1-0, but in the night cap used a three run third to beat the Tobs 3-1 at the Shark Tank.

A 1:45 minute pitchers duel in the first game saw Sharks starter Bryant Gaines throw a complete game and give up just one run on 5 hits.  The Sharks however had no answer for Tobs starter Tim Adleman as he held them to just two hits through his own complete game shut out.

The second game saw Wilmington come to life just a bit with the bats.  A three run third was all starter Matt Freeman and reliever Matt Patterson would need as they combined to hold the Tobs to just one run on six hits.  Freeman moves his record to 1-1 in his second start, throwing five and two thirds innings.

The scoring started when Neal Pritchard led off the inning with a single.  A walk to Matt Kirchner and a ground out put runners at 2nd and 3rd with one down for Bobby Leeper who sent a ball into left field to drive in the first Sharks run.  RBI singles from Mike Alvarez and John Nester capped the scoring.
 
Wilmington 5 – Military All-Stars 1      

The Sharks used 10 hits, plus three innings of scoreless relief from manager Daniel Hersey to beat the Military All-Stars 5-1 at Buck Hardee Field.    

Matt Kirchner led the way for the Sharks going 3-4 and scoring two of the five runs.  He led off the game with a single, and came around to score along with Cory Lyda, on a Bobby Leeper two RBI single.  John Nester and Kolby Epley singles brought two more home for an early 4-0 lead.   

Exhibition starter Kyle Musselman threw six strong innings holding the All-Stars to just one run and five hits.  The one run scoring after Aviation Boatswains Mate Ray Judy slammed a triple off the right field wall and came home to score.

Manager Daniel Hersey took the mound to start the 7th and finish off the ball game.  He allowed just one hit and struck out a batter through three innings.  An error put the first batter Hersey faced on with nobody out, but the Sharks skipper started a 1-6-3 double play to get himself out of trouble.

Wilmington 1 – Wilson 10

The Sharks managed just seven hits off Wilson pitching and fell 10-1 thanks to a give run Tob 8th inning.

Eric Callender started and threw well through seven innings of work giving up just three runs on six hits.  Moving into the eighth Callender retired the first batter then gave up a walk and a single before giving way to Justice French out of the bullpen.  Five runs would come across to secure the Tob lead for good.

The Sharks picked up their run thanks to a solo home run off the bat of Bobby Leeper.  The shot to left center made it 3-1, but Wilmignton would get no closer.  That was Leeper’s first home run of the season and first home run at the Shark Tank all year.

Callender took the loss, throwing seven and two thirds innings, giving up six hits and four earned runs. 

Wilmington 8 – Columbia 9

The Sharks were able to fight their way back into a ball game they trailed at one time by four. 

Missed opportunities in several innings eventually doomed the Sharks as they dropped a 14 inning thriller 9-8 in Columbia.

The Sharks picked up two runs in the 4th inning after the first two batters walked.  Two outs later the bases were loaded for Neal Pritchard who lined a ball to the right center to drive in 2 with a double.

The Sharks threw up another two run frame in the top of the 7th.  As Cory Lyda walked with one out then came home on a triple from Bobby Leeper.  During the next at bat Leeper scored standing up on a wild pitch.  At that point the Sharks trailed it 6-4.

Manager Daniel Hersey was tossed out of the ball game in the bottom of the 7th arguing a ball stike call.  But that really the culmination of a number of grievances as Hersey had been out to argue a number of calls already on the night.  Tim Medlin, the Blowfish manager had been tossed by the same umpire, two innings earlier.

The Sharks went to the 8th inning trailing 7-4, but a two out two RBI double from Lyda brought home the second of three runs on the inning to tie the score.  Lyda was left at second and the game started fresh after 7 and a half.

Ryan Vander Tuig made his third start of the season throwing 7 and a third giving up six total runs.  Matt Patterson worked two and two thirds innings of relief allowing just one run to the Blowfish.  Tyler White worked four scoreless innings, striking out seven, to hold things down in extras.

Wilmington finally plated a run in the top of the thirteenth when Mikel Alvarez led things off with a single.  He was at third with two down and scored on a Ben Kline single to break the tie.  Cory Burgess gave the run back in the bottom frame and eventually a winning run came home off Burgess on a bloop single in the bottom of the 14th to end the ballgame.