Michael Nix (3-8) got the nod for the eighth time as a starter for the Skeeters but was unable to establish himself early when the Riversharks scored first for the second straight night. The righty was lifted after four innings of work giving up five runs, two earned, on four scattered hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
With one out in the inning and two runners on after a single by Eduardo Perez and walk to Brian Burgamy, third baseman Pedro Feliz smacked a single down the line to bring both runners around giving the visitors an early 2-0 lead.
After a scoreless second and third inning, the Riversharks struck again in the fourth. The first batter Nix faced walked and the second reached on an error by Iggy Suarez at the shortstop position. In the third at-bat of the inning, Jake Eigsti reached on the second error of the inning when Nix could not decide on whether to throw to third or first. Right fielder Steven Doetsch grounded into a fielder’s choice to Ofilio Castro at third for the first out of the inning; Castro threw home to get the force at the plate to keep the bases loaded with one out for Paddy Matera. In his second at-bat of the game, the Riversharks second baseman launched a fastball into left for the bases-clearing double to put his team further ahead, 5-0.
Riversharks starter Bryan Corey fared no better the second time against the Skeeters than he did in his first outing at Constellation Field a month ago. Even though the righty retired the first 10 batters he faced and allowed just one walk through four innings things unraveled halfway through the game. The first hit Corey allowed came with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning when Manny Mejia took a fastball into left-center field for his 5th double of the season. One batter later, Steve Moss broke up the shutout with an RBI single up the middle to cut the lead to four, 5-1. Moss stole second to get in scoring position for Iggy Suarez, and on a favorable pitch took Corey down the left-field line for a double. Moss scored to cut the lead to three, 5-2.
With Corey struggling and the no-hitter no longer intact, with a runner on second and still two outs in the inning, Dominic Ramos launched his seventh home run of the season over the left-field wall into the picnic plaza to cut the lead down to one, 5-4. Camden brought in reliever Blake King (2-2) to end the inning finishing Corey’s night.
Ryan McKeller made an appearance out of the pen for the Skeeters and worked a scoreless fifth, but in the sixth inning, Camden scored three more. Matera started the inning with a double with one out and was quickly pushed to third on Chris Walker’s single through the right side of the infield. Garrett Parcell entered the game to finish the inning, but the first batter he faced, Eduardo Perez, knocked a single through the left side scoring both runners to increase the lead, 7-5. Two batters later, Feliz tallied his third RBI of the game with a single to cap the scoring at 8-5.
John Lujan came in to close out the game in the bottom of the ninth for the Riversharks. The league’s second best closer picked up his 18th save of the season when the Skeeters left two stranded.
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