Bowling Green Nips Charleston, 3-2

CHARLESTON, SC Hot Rod relievers Jamie Bagley and Marquis Fleming combined to shutout the RiverDogs over the final 4.2 frames as Bowling Green nipped Charleston, 3-2, in South Atlantic League action Saturday in front of 4,645 fans at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Taking the mound with the lead in the fifth, Bagley (2-3) held the RiverDogs hitless over 2.2 innings of relief and collected four strikeouts to earn the win while Fleming (SV, 5) secured his fifth save of the season after he scattered three hits and two strikeouts over the final two scoreless frames to lock down the Hot Rods win.

With the victory, the Hot Rods won the series 3-1 and improve on their second half record to 11-5 (45-41 overall) while the RiverDogs finish the road trip 2-6 and slip to 7-10 in the second half (46-41 overall).

The RiverDogs jumped to a 2-0 advantage in the second when Mike Lyon smacked a double to left and scored on Addison Maruszaks RBI single to right. Following a walk to Jose Pirela that advanced Maruszak to second, Abraham Almonte lined a RBI single to left that plated Maruszak for the innings second run.

Bowling Green cut into Charlestons lead in the third when Justin Reynolds lined a leadoff single to right, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Anthony Scelfos sacrifice fly to left to make the score 2-1.

The Hot Rod seized a 3-2 advantage in the fifth when Jason Corder cracked a leadoff double to left, scooted to third on Reynolds single to right and was knocked in on Robi Estradas sacrifice fly to right. Reynolds stole second before Tim Beckham laced a RBI single up the middle that brought home Reynolds for the eventual game-winning run.

RiverDogs starter Andrew Brackman (1-9) was handed the loss after he pitched 5.0 full stanzas and allowed three earned runs on six hits and four strikeouts.

Hot Rods starter Frank De Los Santos received a no-decision after he was charged with two earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out three in 4.1 innings on the mound.

Led by Maruszaks three base knocks the RiverDogs out hit the Hot Rod eight to seven on the night as a trio of Bowling Green bats each smacked a pair of hits.

After a rare off day, the RiverDogs return to the friendly confines of The Joe to open up an eight-game homestand with the Hickory Crawdads, an affiliate of the Texas Rangers, and the Kannapolis Intimidators, an affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. In the opening game of the homestand, Charleston turns to right-hander Brandon Braboy (2-3, 4.01 ERA) while Hickory counters with righty Wilfredo Boscan (4-4, 3.21 ERA), with first pitch set for Monday at 7:05 p.m.