P-Rays Suffer Sweep with 7-3 Loss to Danville

The Princeton Rays were unable to spark a rally as they suffered a series sweep at the hands of the Danville Braves with a 7-3 loss on Thursday night at Hunnicutt Field.

Danville took the lead in the first inning. Barrett Kleinknecht struck a single to left that scored Andrelton Simmons for a 1-0 lead.

The Braves added to their lead in the third. Simmons delivered a ground ball to third that scored Bobby Rauh and increased the lead to 2-0.

Danville posted a big inning in the fifth, striking for five runs in the frame. The Braves hit around the order, scoring 5 runs on 4 hits. The P-Rays were their own enemy in the inning, helping the rally with 2 walks, an error and a wild pitch. When the dust settled, Danville held a commanding 7-0 lead.

The Rays took the zero off the board in the fifth inning. Felix Gonzalez doubled to left field with two outs to get things going. Jeff Malm followed with a double to right, that scored Gonzalez for the Rays first run of the contest.

The Rays offense got rolling in the bottom of the ninth inning. Brian Harris led off the inning with a walk then advanced all the way to third on back to back wild pitches. Malm drove home the runner with a single to second. Zane Williams then drew a walk followed by a single by Leonardo Reginatto to load the bases. Todd Glaesmann drove home a run with a ground out. But the Rays left them on the bases as Ruben Contreras grounded out to end the game with the P-Rays taking the 7-3 loss.

Braulio Lara took the loss, giving up 7 runs (4 earned) on 5 hits with 3 strikeouts and a walk in 4 1/3 innings. Wade Broyles followed with 2 2/3 shut-out innings allowing 1 hit with 4 strikeouts and a walk. Mickey Jannis pitched the final 2 innings with no runs on 1 hit with a strikeout.