The New Hampshire Fisher Cats saw their hopes of a perfect southern road trip go up in smoke on Saturday, thanks to a 7-1 defeat at the hands of the Bowie Baysox.
Bowie’s Austin Wynn hit his fourth home run of the year to get the Baysox on the board, but the home team’s rout began with a Garabez Rosa RBI single in the sixth that chased New Hampshire starter Sean Reid-Foley from the contest.
The Baysox would go on to score three more runs in the seventh and an insurance run in the eighth.
New Hampshire avoided the shutout thanks to a wild pitch from Brandon Barker in the top of the eighth, allowing Jake Thomas to come across the plate.
Reid-Foley (3-5) left after 5 2/3 innings, scattering six hits and a walk while striking out four Baysox batters.
He was on the hook for three of Bowie’s earned runs, Justin Shafer was responsible for the other three, as he recorded the next four outs after Reid-Foley’s departure.
Kender Villegas pitched the eighth, but was not directly responsible for the last run. That run was scored by Wynns, who reached on the Fisher Cats’ second error of the day.
Gunnar Heidt made both errors, although he made up for it somewhat at the plate with a 2-for-4 day.
Ryan McBroom also went 2-for-4, but the Fisher Cats were stymied when it really mattered, leaving eight men on base and going 0-for-9 with men in runners in scoring position.
Bowie starter Jesus Lirianzo left after three innings of work, with Barker coming in to start the fourth and staying in for the rest of the contest.
Barker (4-2) needed exactly 100 pitches to earn the victory, allowing four hits and two walks, with seven strikeouts.
Rosa led the way at the plate for Bowie, going 3-for-4 on the day.
New Hampshire concludes their series against the Baysox with a 2:05 p.m. start on Sunday. Jon Harris (2-6, 5.51 ERA) seeks to improve his poor form of late against Bowie lefty John Means (2-7, 5.05 ERA).
