Surkamp Stymies Sea Dogs, Squirrels Win 7-2

After allowing 3 straight singles to start the ballgame, Richmond starter Eric Surkamp calmed down and went to work. The lanky lefty would only give up 2 more hits over the rest of his 6-inning outing, as the Flying Squirrel won 7-2 to take 2 of 3 from the Sea Dogs.

Portland starter Alex Wilson made quick work of the first two batters of the game, getting Justin Christian to fly out and striking out Charlie Culberson. The third out proved harder to get, as he gave up 3 straight singles to give Richmond an early 1-0 lead.

The Sea Dogs answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first, as the first three batters all singled, as Jeremy Hazelbaker scored to tie the game at 1-1. Hazelbaker would be the only Sea Dog to get another hit until the 6th inning.

After a 1-2-3 inning in the second, Wilson ran into trouble in the third. He walked Christian to lead-off the inning. With Culberson batting, Christian would steal 2nd, and then score from 2nd on a wild pitch. Culberson then walked and stole 2nd. Johnny Monell then hit a single past a diving Jorge Padron at 1st to score Culberson. Two batters later, Monell would score on sacrifice fly by Drew Biery. It was 4-1 Richmond with Wilson looking anything but dominant.

Wilson would settle down in his final two innings, giving up only a double to Monell in the fifth inning.

Richmond would add to their lead in the sixth inning off reliever Jeremy Kehrt. Nick Noonan singled to left with one out, then scored on a double by Sharlon Schoop. Schoop would move to 3rd on a wild throw from Vladimir Frias to home. Aaron Lowenstein then hit a sac bunt down the 1st base line to plate Schoop, making it 6-1 Flying Squirrels. Ryan Lormand hit a 2-out double, but Frias made a nice running grab of a grounder up the middle and fired to first to get Christian out and prevent another run.

Culberson would round out the Richmond scoring in the seventh inning, hitting a lead-off Home Run over the outfield wall in left-center off of Kehrt.

For good measure the Sea Dogs would score a run in the bottom of the ninth to make it interesting. Chih-Hsien Chiang hit a lead-off triple that barely stayed in the yard. He would score two batters on a Jon Hee RBI groundout to finalize the 7-2 score.

Surkamp was the story of this game. In 6 innings, he gave up only 1 run on 5 hits, with 6 strikeouts and only 1 walk. He held the Sea Dogs 5-9 hitters in check, as they went 0 for 11 with 3 K's with Surkamp pitching. The Giants prospect improved his record to 4-3, and lowered his ERA to a whopping 1.88.

Wilson fell to 5-4 on the season. In a tough outing for him, he gave up 4 runs on 5 hits, with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.

Monell proved to be tough out for Portland pitchers, as he went 3-4 with 2 runs scored. He reached base in all 5 plate appearances, as he reached on an error in the seventh and a walk in the ninth.

Will Middlebrooks had a rough night for the Sea Dogs. The usual starting 3B was the DH for this game, and was 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. Frias was the only batter 5-9 for Portland to reach base, with a single in the eighth. The bottom of the lineup went 1 for 18.

The Sea Dogs now start a 3-game series against the Bowie Baysox, the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. It will be ht only time Bowie comes to Portland this season.
-WIL KRAMLICH-