Skeeters "Dom"inate Revolution, Win 7-2

The night started with an hour "rain delay" in York, PA even though no rain actually fell from the sky. In hopes of staying in contention for the 2nd half playoff spot, Tim Redding took the mound for Sugar Land and faced off against Chris Cody for the Revolution.

The Skeeters came out swinging in the 1st inning and scored 2 runs on 3 hits. With 1 out, Dominic Ramos doubled to left field and advanced to 3rd base on a Dionys Cesar ground out to short stop. Now with 2 outs, Josh Pressley doubled to the right field corner, and thanks to an error by the right fielder, advanced to 3rd base, scoring Ramos for the 1st run. Steve Moss then hit the 3rd double of the inning to score Pressley to take the 2-0 lead. Redding pitched a 3 up & 3 down inning to keep it 2-0 good guys!

The Skeeters were able to get a base runner on in the 2nd inning with a 2-out single by Iggy Suarez but could not get him across the plate. Redding came back out and again pitched a 3 up & 3 down inning...2-0 Skeeters after 2 innings!

Dominic Ramos got a lead off single to start the 3rd inning but was thrown out on a 1-3-5 caught stealing. The next 2 batters were retired for the unconventional 3 up & 3 down. Redding, after retiring the first 2 batters of the inning, gave up a 2-out walk, the first Revs base runner of the game but retired the next batter on an attempted bunt to end the inning. Still 2-0 Skeeters!

In the 4th inning, Steve Moss hit a lead off single and for the 2nd straight inning, there was a caught stealing initiated by the pitcher and again, the next 2 batters were retired for the unconventional 3 up & 3 down. Redding finally gave up his first 2 hits to the Revs  with a single & a double but retired the inning keeping the Revs scoreless. still 2-0 good guys after 4 innings!!

The Skeeters finally added another run to their lead when Dominic Ramos doubled with 2 outs to score Ofilio Castro (single) to take the 3-0 lead and was stranded at 2nd base. Redding came out struggling giving up 2 hits & 1 walk to load the bases with 1 out and gave up 1 run on a sac fly to center field. The 2nd Revs run came in on a double steal to make it 3-2 Skeeters after 5 innings.

In the 6th inning, the Skeeters continued their 2-out scoring streak when Bubba Bell hit a double of the left field wall scoring Carlos Sosa (single) before the side was retired. Saul Rivera came in for relief of Redding and started the same way going 3 up & 3 down keeping the score 4-2 Skeeters.

The Skeeters got 2 quick outs on 4 pitches in the 7th inning. Dominic Ramos stepped up to the plate looking to continue his perfect night and battled Cody for a single to right field, making Ramos 4 for 4 on the night. Ramos' hit gave the Skeeters a hit in every inning up to that point. Dionys Cesar flew out for the 3rd out of the inning. Rivera continued to pitch well retiring the first 2 batters, to make it 5 in a row, but walked a batter before retiring the side...4-2 Skeeters after 7 innings.

Josh Pressley continued the 8 consecutive innings with a hit by hitting a single and was replaced with Aaron Bates. The next 2 batters, Steve Moss and Carlos Sosa both singled. Sosa's single scored Bates from 2nd base...the 1st run scored before having 2 outs in the inning. Bubba Bell then walked to load the bases with no outs. Manny Mejia got an RBI on the fielder's choice to 3rd base when Bubba Bell was thrown out at 2nd base. With runners on the corners, Iggy Suarez did the same thing as Mejia. He lined a shot to 3rd base scoring Sosa. The inning ended with a fly out by Ofilio Castro but the damage was done. The Skeeters scored 3 runs making the score 7-2 heading to the bottom of the 8th inning. Roberto "The Undertaker" Giron came in to pitch the 8th inning and allowed just 1 hit, holding the Revs scoreless. 7-2 Skeeters headed to the 9th inning!

Dominic Ramos had a shot at a 5-hit night but flew out to right field for the 1st out. Aaron Bates hit a 2-out double in his first plate appearance of the night but was stranded on 2nd. Will Startup came in to close the game in a non-save opportunity and, despite giving up a single and a throwing error by Bates at 1st base, struck out the final 2 batters to retire the side scoreless. SKEETERS WIN 7-2!!

My MVP of the game is Dominic "Dom" Ramos. He went 4 for 5 with 2 double, 2 singles, 1 RBI and scored a run as well.

The Skeeters are now 26-25 in the 2nd half but could not move any closer to Lancaster for the division lead as they also won this evening. The Skeeters remain 8 games out of 1st place with 19 games to go!

Hitting Streaks:

Dominic Ramos (8)

Steve Moss (4)

Josh Pressley (3)

Ofilio Castro (3)

Bubba Bell (2)

Aaron Bates (2)

Iggy Suarez (2)

The 2nd game of the 4-game series is scheduled for Tuesday night at 5:30pm local time.

The Skeeters welcomed their newest player, Carlos Sosa, to the team and he got the start as well. Sosa comes to Sugar Land via the San Antonio Missions in the Texas League where he played in 2011 & 2012 but has Atlantic League experience playing on the Road Warriors for 75 games during the 2011 season.