A recap of the week that was in Bowie baseball fits a pattern again today.
It is the story of who hit home runs or provided the offense in losing efforts, and this week’s individual heroes were familiar ones – Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg. The Baysox lost to Hartford, 8-7, Sunday and have lost nine of their last 10.
Hudson Haskin supplied some early fireworks with a two-run home run to get Bowie off to a 2-0, first inning lead. Westburg added a two-run shot in the third, giving the Baysox a commanding 4-0 lead. In the fourth, Hartford made it a two-run game, but Zach Watson’s second home run of the season extended the lead to three.
For Hartford, it was Michael Toglia who stole the show, hitting two home runs and being responsible for four of the Yard Goats eight runs.
The Baysox suffered their ninth one-run loss of the season Saturday night, losing to Hartford, 4-3. Bowie twice tied the game on home runs by Maverick Handley and Shayne Fontana, but three home runs against Garrett Stallings (now 2-3) and an unearned run off Tyler Burch burned Bowie’s chances.
Bowie snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 10-3 win in front of 9,658 at PG Stadium Friday evening. The Baysox smacked a homestand-high 11 hits in this affair, four each in the third and fifth innings for a combined nine runs.
Handley opened the offensive action in the third with a double, and Adam Hall followed with a hit-by-pitch. After them, Westburg smacked his seventh home run of the season, plating three runs in a five-run inning. Jensen Elliott (1-0) picked up his first Double-A win, after giving up two hits and no runs in three innings.
Ironically enough, Henderson did not figure in any of the offense, getting his first day off of the season after starting the first 34 games for Bowie. He needed it after what happened in the previous three games.
All nine Bowie batters came up in the opening inning of Thursday’s game. Leadoff man Haskin and Henderson each singled, and Westburg promptly doubled to bring in one run. Joey Ortiz’s sacrifice fly brought in another to tie the game at two, and J.D. Mundy forced a fielder’s choice to score a third run and chase Hartford starter Noah Gotsis.
In the seventh, Westburg doubled again for his second RBI, bringing in Haskin to tie it, 4-4, before Hartford added the night’s final run.
The pitching stood out as much as anything Wednesday. Dean Kremer, on a rehab start for an oblique injury, threw a perfect first inning on just nine pitches before giving way to Antonio Velez. Though he gave up a long shot to the second batter he faced, he struck out five in a row – the exact same five batters Kremer struck out.
Watson’s fifth inning double was all that prevented Bowie from being no-hit through seven innings by Hartford starter, Karl Kauffmann. The Baysox showed life against reliever Riley Pint in the eighth, when Cody Roberts drove in a run, and Henderson did the rest by hitting a two-run shot to pull the Baysox within two.
The theme of short-lived offensive fireworks but no cigar began Tuesday in a 7-3 loss, when four of the first five Bowie hitters reached base, the highlight being a Henderson two-run homer. He also added a solo shot in the fifth.
Ryan Watson (L, 2-1) was tagged for four runs in the second inning on five hits and two unearned runs in the third inning. To go along with Watson’s career-high nine hits, the Baysox also committed a season-high four errors.
The Baysox begin a series against the Erie Seawolves Tuesday night, as they look to right the ship.
Who stood out to you the most in Bowie this week? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook and Twitter! And make sure to use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content to show your Birdland swag!
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