For the second straight night the Sharks found themselves down early and could not scramble back, falling 9-4 to the Florence Redwolves Friday night.

A "Shark Tank" packed to the gills with an Independence Weekend crowd watched as Sharks starter Chris Kennedy(Davidson) struggled in the second inning, walking in a run then giving up a grand slam. Kennedy left the ballgame after two.

The Sharks showed fight as they pulled three runs closer, cutting the lead to 5-3 in the third, but that is where the comeback hopes ended.

With runners on first and second Jesse Bosnik(St. Bonaventure) lofted a ball to the left centerfield gap that found its way to the wall. Bosnik made the entire circuit trip to bring home three. 

Wilmington would pull no closer as reliever Sean Toler(Missouri State) was touched up for four runs, including a lead off home run in the fourth to make the deficit 9-3.

With runners everywhere and no body down in the sixth, Ryan McGrath(Wake Forest) would start his scoreless night getting two outs on just a handful of pitches to end the frame. McGrath would throw four scoreless on the evening to keep the game out of double digits.

In the ninth, Greg Bachman(Austin Peay), with two defensive gems to his credit on the night, singled to left. With two down he stood at third for Allen King(UNC-Wilmington) who picked up his sixth RBI of the year with a single plating the Sharks fourth run.

Kennedy took the loss, moving to 1-2 while the Sharks fall to 1-3 on the CPL second half.

The Sharks will be back home for a "Mothers Monday" to kick off Green Week. Kids eat a free meal with admission while adults get all you can eat for just ten dollars.

The Wilmington Sharks are members of the summer collegiate Coastal Plain League, the nation’s hottest summer collegiate baseball league. In 2008 the Sharks drew more than 50,000 fans to the “Shark Tank” for an average of 1,650 per game. For more information on tickets, merchandise or advertising opportunities please call (910) 343.5621.

Florence at Wilmington
                     Jul 03, 2009 at Wilmington (Buck Hardee Field)

  Florence 9 (18-14)                            Wilmington 4 (11-21)

  Player                      AB  R  H BI       Player                      AB  R  H BI
  ---------------------------------------       ---------------------------------------
  Haynes, D. cf..............  1  1  0  2       Mike Rooney lf.............  2  0  0  0
  DiMatteo, S. rf............  5  1  2  6       Jesse Bosnik ss............  4  1  1  3
  Burnett, T. ss.............  3  0  0  0       Adam Eggemeyer dh..........  4  0  1  0
  Kleinknecht, 3b............  6  0  1  0       Greg Bachman 3b............  4  1  1  0
  Lugbauer, M. 1b............  5  2  4  1       Adam Gray 2b...............  4  0  0  0
  Petzold, H. 2b.............  5  2  3  0       Alex Hill 1b...............  4  0  0  0
  McCray, S. dh..............  2  0  0  0       Allen King c...............  4  0  1  1
  Pirkle, R. c...............  4  1  0  0       Graham Fronk cf............  4  1  1  0
  Caldwell, Z. lf............  4  2  2  0       Trevor Willis rf...........  1  1  0  0
  Haselden, D. p.............  0  0  0  0       Chris Kennedy p............  0  0  0  0
   Miller, T. p..............  0  0  0  0        Sean Toler p..............  0  0  0  0
                                                 Kyle Smith p..............  0  0  0  0
                                                 Ryan McGrath p............  0  0  0  0
  Totals..................... 35  9 12  9       Totals..................... 31  4  5  4

  Score by Innings                    R  H  E
  -------------------------------------------
  Florence............ 050 040 000 -  9 12  2
  Wilmington.......... 003 000 001 -  4  5  0
  -------------------------------------------

  E - Burnett, T.(14); Lugbauer, M.(3). DP - Wilmington 2. LOB - Florence 13;
  Wilmington 4. 2B - Lugbauer, M.(3); Bosnik, J.(4). HR - DiMatteo, S.(3); Lugbauer,
  M.(1). HBP - DiMatteo, S.; Burnett, T.. SH - McCray, S.(2); Rooney, M.(1). SB -
  Haynes, D.(3); Lugbauer, M.(1); Eggemeyer, A(2). CS - Caldwell, Z.(3).

  Florence                       IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Haselden, D.  W,2-3........   7.0  3  3  3  2  5   0  0  0  0   23 26  10  6
  Miller, T. ................   2.0  2  1  1  1  3   0  0  0  0    8  9   2  1

  Wilmington                     IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Chris Kennedy  L,1-2.......   2.0  4  5  4  3  2   1  0  1  0    9 14   3  1
  Sean Toler ................   3.0  5  4  4  4  0   0  0  0  0   13 17   5  3
  Kyle Smith ................   0.0  2  0  0  1  0   0  0  0  0    2  3   0  0
  Ryan McGrath ..............   4.0  1  0  0  3  0   0  0  1  0   11 15   1  9

  WP - Kennedy, C.(3). HBP - by Kennedy, C. (Burnett, T.); by McGrath, R. (DiMatteo, S.).
  PB - Pirkle, R..

  Strikeouts - Burnett, T.; Lugbauer, M.; Rooney, M.; Bosnik, J.; Eggemeyer, A;
  Bachman, G.; Gray, A.; Hill, A.; King, A.; Willis, T.. Walks - Haynes, D. 5;
  Burnett, T. 2; McCray, S. 2; Pirkle, R.; Caldwell, Z.; Rooney, M.; Willis, T. 2.

  Umpires - HP: Cory Mattea  1B: Ryan Bealo
  Start: 7:05   Time:   Attendance: 3605

  Smith, K. faced 3 batters in the 6th.