Appalachian League’s top batter takes down Danville Braves

Brady Shoemaker crushed a solo home run in the ninth to send the game to extra innings and ripped a bases-loaded double in the 12th to hand the Bristol White Sox a 4-3 victory against the Danville Braves on Sunday at Dan Daniel Park.

Danville scored twice in the bottom of the 12th inning but proved unable to close the gap entirely.

“I wanted another chance after I didn’t make it work the first time,” Shoemaker said after grounding into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the 10th. “You always hope it’s going to break open like that but you just never know and you try to get runs however you can get them.”

Shoemaker, who improved his Appalachian League-leading batting average to .432 with a 3-for-6 performance, tied the game at 1-1 with a towering blast to right field to lead off the ninth inning, the first blown save for the Braves (17-9) and the first for relief pitcher Thomas Berryhill this season.

Shoemaker received a second chance to bat with the bases loaded and one out in the 12th after blowing the same opportunity two innings earlier, and this time knocked a bases-clearing double to right field for a 4-1 White Sox lead.

The Bristol (11-15) slugger clubbed two doubles and a homer in the contest. His first double, in the sixth inning, bounced high off the 18-foot right-field wall and likely would have been a home run in any other park in the league.

“We got a couple pitches up and when it counted Shoemaker came through for them,” D-Braves manager Paul Runge said.

SMOOTH SAILIN’ SERAFIN

White Sox starting pitcher Joseph Serafin hurled six scoreless innings against the D-Braves on Sunday to lower his Appalachian League-leading ERA to a spectacular 0.30.

Serafin left a scoreless ballgame after surrendering four hits, striking out three and walking two. He has allowed just one run and three walks in 29 innings.

Serafin issued a pair of walks against Danville, the second walk of the day allowing the D-Braves to load the bases with just one out in the fifth. The Braves failed to capitalize on the opportunity.

“I thought (Luis) Avilan did a great job giving us four scoreless innings and (Casey) Hodges followed it up. We matched Serafin zero for zero in his six innings of work and we gave ourselves a chance,” Runge said. “When you go up against a pitcher like Serafin, usually a mistake somewhere along the line will cost you the game, and it cost us today.”

COMING UP SHORT

Mycal Jones scored Matt Weaver from third with a sacrifice bunt down the first base line to break a scoreless tie in the bottom of the eighth inning and put Danville in position for the win before the contest was sent to extra innings.

Even after Bristol took a 4-1 lead in the top of the 12th, Bobby Rauh and Randy Gress doubled to score a run and L.V. Ware scored Gress with a sacrifice fly to cut Danville’s deficit to a single run in the bottom of the frame.

“We put ourselves in a position to win the game today, and we didn’t capitalize on it. We had a number of opportunities,” Runge said. “We were basically one hit short all day, and that’s the bottom line. We just couldn’t get the hit when we needed it today.”

HEFFLINGER DUE BACK SOON

D-Braves outfielder Robbie Hefflinger, who leads the Appalachian League with six home runs, was held out of the lineup for the third straight game with a sore wrist.

The 6-5, 225-pound seventh-round draft pick collided hard with the outfield wall early in Danville’s 4-3, 13-inning victory against Elizabethton on Wednesday, but played the duration of the contest. Hefflinger, 19, has started 21 games in the outfield and owns a .286 ERA.

“He needed a couple of days off. He had a sore wrist from banging into that outfield wall,” Runge said. “We look for him to get back in the lineup real soon.”

WITH THE QUICKNESS

Cory Harrilchack, Ware and Jones combined to steal six bases in the 8-2 series opening victory against Bristol on Saturday night, with each stolen base leading to a Braves run. The six stolen bases set a season high for the D-Braves and Ware, who stole three bases, set a new Braves individual season high.

Ware, who leads the Appy League with 15 stolen bases this season, had his third steal of the game awarded on a scoring change after the contest. Harrilchak’s two stolen bases Saturday give him seven this year and Jones has six.

The trio, the first three players in Danville’s batting order, are a combined 28-for-30 in stolen base attempts this season, good for an unreal 93 percent success rate. Danville is fourth in the league with 33 stolen bases this season.

UP NEXT

Danville LHP Jeffrey Lorick (2-1, 7.24 ERA) against Bristol RHP Steven Upchruch (2-3, 4.40 ERA) in the final game of the D-Braves’ six-game homestand at 7 p.m. today. Danville has won three of the five games in that span and goes for its seventh consecutive series victory today.