Salem, VA – Chris Nicoll (0-1) issued a two-out walk in the bottom of the 14th inning that came back to bite him, as the Wilmington Blue Rocks dropped their road opener of the 2008 season to the Salem Avalanche on Tuesday night, 4-3. With nobody on base and two outs, a five-pitch walk to Jordan Parraz set the table. The prospect center fielder quickly swiped second base, and reserve outfielder Cesar Quintero, who entered in the eighth as a pinch-runner, slammed an 0-2 pitch into the right-center gap for a walk-off double. The four hour and two minute marathon dropped the Blue Rocks to 1-4 on the young season and 2.5 games back of first-place Frederick in the Northern Division.

The Blue Rocks blew three separate leads on the game, with the final lead lost in the eighth. Pacing the Avs by a 3-2 count, righty reliever Tyler Chambliss had retired the first two batters of the inning before allowing three straight two-out hits to knot the contest up, 3-3. Ryan Reed slapped the run-scoring blow, a soft single into shallow left field that plated Quintero from second base.

Both teams struggled offensively, stranding multiple baserunners during extra innings. Three times in extras, the Blue Rocks placed their leadoff hitter on base, but failed to produce a run. The Blue Crew stranded runners in six of the last eight innings, including at least one man in scoring position in the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th innings. On the night, Wilmington left 13 men on base, including an eye-popping 10 in scoring position.

Kurt Mertins offered a silver lining to the night of disappointment, tying a career-high by collecting four hits, all singles, in a 4-for-6 effort at the plate. His night included an RBI and a stolen base. To boot, one of Mertins’ two outs was a belted line out to deep center field in the seventh inning, corralled on a highlight-caliber sprinting grab by Parraz.

Game two of the three-game series on Wednesday night will showcase Blue Rocks ace Blake Wood (0-0, 0.00). The fourth-ranked prospect in the Royals system, according to Baseball America, dominated in Wilmington’s season opener with 5.1 innings of shutout ball and a career-best nine strikeouts. Southpaw David Qualben opposes Wood, making his Advanced-A debut with first pitch at 7:07 p.m.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Salem used six pitchers on the game to the Blue Rocks four, and the Avs had three different pitchers hit after losing their DH in the ninth inning.

The Blue Rocks are 0-3 in one-run games this season, and 0-2 in extra-inning affairs.

Wilmington swiped a season-best five bases in the game, running their season-long total to 15 steals through five games. Five separate Blue Rocks combined to accomplish the feat: Jarrod Dyson, Anthony Seratelli, Kurt Mertins, Matt Morizio and Chris McConnell.

Their aggressiveness also was costly, with three different Blue Rocks caught stealing on the game, and a fourth clean picked off.

Reliever Aaron Hartsock tossed three scoreless innings for the second time in as many appearances as a Blue Rock.

Right fielder Joe Dickerson went 2-for-6 in the game, giving him at least one hit in four straight games.