Suns Beat Pensacola Blue Wahoos 10-4 In Season Opener

July 2, 2012

Eight of the nine spots in the Jacksonville lineup reached base while first baseman Curt Smith, right fielder Jeff Dominguez and second baseman Paul Gran all homered to power the Suns to a 10-4 victory over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos on Sunday night at The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

With the win, Jacksonville improves their record in the second half to 5-6, while the Blue Wahoos fell to 6-5 since the Southern League All-Star Break.

The Suns got the scoring started early on, plating two tallies in the opening frame. LF Jake Smolinski drew a leadoff walk and then stole second before coming home on Smith’s blast to left to push Jacksonville to a 2-0 advantage. Dominguez would then leave the yard in the next inning to move the Suns margin to three.

Pensacola however, would answer with three runs of their own in the third to draw the contest even. After C Mark Fleury and CF Ryan LaMarre each drew a free pass, SS Didi Gregorius brought both home with a triple down the right field line, while Gregorius would later come across on 2B Brodie Greene’s sacrifice fly to right.

Jacksonville would then take command of the game however in the fifth thanks to their third longball of the evening. Relief pitcher Kyle Kaminska drew a leadoff base-on-balls prior to a another walk by Smolinski, his third of the contest, before Gran launched a three-run blast to left to give the Suns a lead they would not give up.

The home team would add a total of four insurance runs combined in the sixth and seventh frames, including a run-scoring single by Gran for his fourth RBI of the contest. Smolinski would reach base once more when he was hit by a pitch in the seventh with the bases loaded to force in a run.

Jacksonville reliever Kyle Kaminski (2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 SO) earned the win after yielding a lone earned run on two hits, while Joshua Schmidt (3.0 IP, 3 H, 2 SO) earned his first save of the year by tossing the final three innings. Blue Wahoos starter Tim Crabbe (4.0 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 SO) suffered the loss after allowing six earned runs on three hits while walking six in his four frames.

Three Suns batters, including Gran (2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB), Smith (2-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB) and Dominguez (2-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI), all collected two hits in the contest while Pensacola LF Bryson Smith (4-4, 1 2B) tallied four base knocks in the loss. Smith in his last three games has now tallied eight hits in 12 at bats and is hitting .533 since his promotion from High-A Bakersfield on June 27.

By Andrew Green

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports, TOP sports