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Indians rain on Warthogs' parade
Kinston wins 7-4, cuts Winston-Salem's lead in race for CL postseason berth to 1 1/2 games
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
Reliever Wander Perez of Winston-Salem pitched a scoreless inning, but it wasn’t enough against Kinston.
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Published: August 28, 2008
The Winston-Salem Warthogs lost more ground to the Kinston Indians in the race for a playoff spot in the Carolina League.
On a night more suited for Michael Phelps, somehow the teams dodged enough raindrops and the Indians won 7-4 in seven innings. The second game of the doubleheader, which is also scheduled for seven innings, was suspended in the top of the third with the score 0-0.
With the win, the Indians cut their deficit to 1½ games behind the Warthogs with six games left.
"We were as nasty as the weather," Manager Tim Blackwell of the Warthogs said as the dugout steps looked more like a waterfall around 9:45, when play was suspended for the night. "It's frustrating because we are trying to get to a point to win a playoff spot. But I guess you could safely saw we are playing as bad as the weather with walks and hit batsman and everything else."
The Warthogs can salvage a split in the four-game series with two wins tonight. Last night's second game will continue at 6 p.m. today, with the nine-inning final game at Ernie Shore Field beginning afterward.
It was a minor miracle that any baseball was played last night, considering the amount of rain that the 53-year-old field absorbed. The MVPs of last night were Doug Tanis and his grounds crew, who worked overtime getting the field playable. While the outfield was soggy, the infield was in good shape until a final rainstorm came in the third inning of the second game.
Tanis and his crew started working on the field in mid-afternoon and had it ready to go for the first pitch around 6 p.m.
"They did a great job getting the field ready and Doug was out here all day," Blackwell said. "Obviously there's a lot to do but he did a nice job."
The Warthogs, on the other hand, didn't do a nice job, letting a late lead slip away.
The Warthogs had a 4-3 lead after four innings but that was short-lived.
The Indians scored two runs in the fifth off losing pitcher Anthony Carter (6-5) to take a 5-4 lead. Nick Weglarz had an RBI triple and Carlos Rivero added an RBI single.
On the triple, Weglarz hit a liner to center that John Shelby III dove for but came up short, with the ball rolling to the warning track about 390 feet away from home plate.
In the sixth, the Indians added two more runs thanks to three straight singles off reliever Henry Mabee.
The Warthogs ran themselves out of a possible big inning in the sixth. Francisco Hernandez walked and Adam Ricks singled to start the inning. But Sergio Miranda struck out and, when C.J. Retherford struck out, Hernandez was thrown out at third on what looked like a botched hit-and-run play.
Left-hander Shawn Nottingham was the winner for the Indians, improving to 3-4, while Josh Tomlin pitched two strong innings to get his second save of the season.
Carlos Santana was 3 for 3 for the Indians and Rivero was 3 for 4 as the Indians had 10 hits.
The Warthogs had eight hits, with Retherford and Ronnie Gaines picking up two apiece.
While tonight's games will mark the end of 53 years of regular-season baseball at Ernie Shore, the Warthogs are hoping to make it into the playoffs, which would mean more home games next week.
Blackwell said: "We're looking forward to the new ballpark. We've had a tour of the new place and it's awesome, but we still have a little work to do in this ballpark.
"We need to finish this game and then we'll have another game so they are important for a lot of reasons."
In tonight's final regular-season game, the Warthogs will send Matt Long (7-11) to the mound and the Indians will counter with Hector Rondon (11-6).
Notes: After tonight's final game of the homestand with the Indians, the Warthogs will play their final four games of the regular-season at Frederick…. As part of the promotion of the final season at Ernie Shore Field the team recognized the 5 millionth fan last night. It was John Kepins of Kernersville, who got to watch the games from one of the luxury suites…. At the start of the second game about 9 p.m. there were 40 people in the stands.
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.
KIN. ab r h bi W-S ab r h bi
Mntro rf 4 0 0 0 Rthrfrd 3b 4 0 2 2
Santana c 3 3 3 2 Paiml ss 4 0 1 0
Weglarz dh 4 1 2 1 Shelby cf 4 0 0 0
Goedert 3b 4 0 1 1 Sanchez rf 3 1 1 0
Rivero ss 4 0 3 1 Gaines lf 3 1 2 1
Romero 2b 3 1 0 0 Prschna 1b 3 0 0 0
Head 1b 1 1 0 0 Hrndz dh 2 1 1 0
Drennen lf 4 0 1 2 Ricks c 2 0 1 0
Pena cf 2 1 0 0 Miranda 2b 3 1 0 0
Totals 29 7 10 7 Totals 28 4 8 3
Kinston 120 022 0 -- 7
Win.-Salem 030 100 0 -- 4
E--Rivero, Goedert, Persichina. DP--Kinston 2. LOB--Kinston 8, Winston-Salem 6. 2B--Drennen, Gaines, Hernandez. 3B--Weglarz. HR--Santana. SB--Head, Hernandez, Sanchez 2. CS--Pena, Hernandez.
Kinston IP H R ER BB SO
Nottingham, W (3-4) 5 7 4 3 2 1
Tomlin, S, 2 2 1 0 0 1 3
Winston-Salem IP H R ER BB SO
Carter, L (6-5) 41/3 7 5 5 2 2
Mabee 12/3 3 2 2 1 2
Perez 1 0 0 0 1 0
WP--Mabee. HBP--by Carter (Head), by Carter (Head), by Perez (Pena). T--2:22. A--n/a.
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