Extra inning heroics snap losing streak

​GAME RECAP (Grays vs Giants) 7-6-2016

By: DCGrays.com Press: Josh Shelton

It took an extra inning of play, but the DC Grays finally ended a five game skid with a 5-4 win Tuesday against the Gaithersburg Giants. With the win the Grays improve to 10-16 on the year while moving to seven and a half games back from the Bethesda Big Train.

The Grays trailed the entire game until the seventh inning, when they tied the score at four. The rally started with an RBI single from CF Jawan McAllister (Pittsburgh) that scored 2B Eric Sloper (Shepherd) from third. With two outs, 3B Marques Inman hit a towering fly ball that was dropped by Giants left fielder Tate Shaw, allowing RF Lamar Briggs (Jackson St.) and McAllister to score.

RHP Simon Rosenblum-Larson (Harvard) came on in relief and shut down the Giants in the eighth inning, retiring all three batters he faced with two strikeouts. Then in the ninth, Grays’ ace Jake Erikson (San Diego St.) came in to pitch relief and kept the Giants off the board. After the Grays failed to score with bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Erikson returned to the mound and pitched a second inning of shutout relief.

In the bottom of the tenth inning DH Chris Perez led off with a single, then was bunted to second base by 1B Tyler Thomas (Shepherd) before advancing to third on Sloper’s ground out. With two outs and a runner on third, Briggs stepped up to the plate. Briggs crushed a 1-0 fastball over the centerfielder’s head for a walk off single to score Perez from third and end the game.

The Grays will try and ride this momentum into Wednesday’s double-header against the Vienna River Dogs (11-15) in D.C. Both games will be nine-innings. The double-header starts at 5:00pm and can be listened to live at www.spreaker.com/user/8147824.