Patriots Win Sixth Straight To Open Season

Bridgewater, NJ- The Somerset Patriots shut out the York Revolution with a 5-0 win at TD Bank Ballpark on Wednesday afternoon.

The Patriots once again took an early lead with a run in the first on a groundout by Bryan LaHair.

“It was good to get out ahead. The last few games we scored first and obviously you want to keep adding. The difference was last night we really didn’t add, but were able to hold on to the lead. Today we finally came through and put it out of reach, which was nice,” said Somerset Patriots manager Brett Jodie.

Somerset broke the game open with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Matt Fields singled and advanced to third on a double by Carlos Guzman. Both runners then came home on a double by Mycal Jones, who later scored on a single by Darwin Perez. An error on a pick-off attempt allowed Perez to cross the plate for the 5-0 final score.

“When our pitching staff is putting up zero after zero, there really is no pressure at the plate,” Jones said. “Right there [in the sixth inning at bat], I’m just trying to get something in the outfield so at worst I can get a sacrifice fly and put us up by two there. I happened to find a hole and score two and then tack two more on for the final.”

Connor Little (1-0) picked up the win with a scoreless inning pitched. Mike McClendon (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) on nine hits in 5.1 innings pitched.

Patriots starter Efrain Nieves allowed just two hits in four innings of work.

The 2016 Somerset Patriots Season presented by Ford continues on Wednesday night with a 7:05 pm game against the York Revolution. For tickets visit www.somersetpatriots.com.