PRESS RELEASE – The Fayetteville SwampDogs used a five-run sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie and power them to a 10-1 victory in front of a record crowd of 6,049 at J.P. Riddle Stadium on Sunday night.
Every SwampDogs starter reached base, led by Billy Urban’s 4-for-5 night and another big two-run single from John Hogan. Hogan now has five RBI’s in his last three games, all SwampDogs wins.
Dom Macaluso (2-2) pitched seven strong innings to earn the win, allowing just one run on five hits. 19 of 21 outs were recorded on groundballs or line-outs to the four infielders. Mike Hebert came on for the final two innings for Fayetteville (20-11) and did not allow a run.
Brice Rivenbark (2-3) was shaky from the start for Wilson (16-14), but worked around a couple of early jams behind solid defense from his infielders. But he started the sixth by walking Eric Grabe, who finished 2-for-4 with a walk a run scored. Cody Davis, Hogan, and Urban all followed with singles, and by the time the dust had cleared a bases loaded hit by pitch to Cody Hudson and an RBI single from Nick Crucet had plated five runs and given the SwampDogs all the offense they would need.
Dylan Brown added a two-run single for the SwampDogs in the seventh, while Dillon Checkal delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth to provide the final margin.
The crowd eclipsed last year’s Independence Day crowd of 5,501, and was the largest crowd to watch a baseball game at J.P. Riddle Stadium in SwampDogs history.
The SwampDogs will now have a day off before hitting the road, traveling to Morehead City for a game on Tuesday night. They’ll return home on Wednesday to face the Wilmington Sharks. Gates will open at 6 p.m., with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. at J.P. Riddle Stadium.
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