Rome Braves rally to beat West Virginia 5-4 to open home stand

MEDIA RELEASE

The Rome Braves defeated the West Virginia Power Thursday night 5-4 with a late comeback victory in front of a State Mutual Stadium crowd of 2,065.

The Braves were the first to scratch the scoreboard in the first inning when Marcus Mooney hit a sacrifice fly to score Randy Ventura, giving them the early 1-0 lead.

West Virginia came back with four in the third inning, highlighted by Albert Baur’s two RBI double to give the Power a 4-1 lead.

The Braves mustered a run in the fourth on a RBI single by Kurt Hoekstra, but trailed 4-2 until the eighth inning.

In the eighth, after Cristian Pache led off with a single, Brett Cumberland launched a ball off the right field wall for a triple to score Pache from first.

Kurt Hoekstra followed in the order with an RBI single to score Cumberland and tying the game 4-4.

After Lucas Herbert was hit by a pitch and Kevin Josephina singled, a wild pitch was enough to bring Herbert home to give the Braves the 5-4 lead and the victory.

Tucker Davidson (1-2) picks up the victory for Rome after three outstanding innings in relief, while Matt Frawley (2-1) suffers the lost for West Virginia.

Rome and West Virginia face off in game two of the series Friday Night at 7 p.m.