Adam Hall and his Delmarva Shorebirds teammates broke out the big bats late as they clubbed their way to their 90th with a 9-5 regular season-closing victory over the Kannapolis Intimidators at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.
With the win the Shorebirds join extremely elite company. They become the first South Atlantic League team since the 2006 Augusta GreenJackets and just the 14th team in modern SAL history (since 1980) to reach the 90-win plateau.
With the game knotted at 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh, the Shorebirds busted out in a big way. Shayne Fontana legged out an infield single to begin the frame and then stole second and advanced to third on the play when the throw down sailed into center. Toby Welk then drew a walk to put two aboard. After a strikeout, Welk swiped second base during another strikeout. Doran Turchin followed by working a free pass to load the bases. Alexis Torres came up next and provided the punch as he socked a two-run single to left restoring the lead for the Shorebirds at 6-4.
Hall followed by beating out an infield single to second, and Turchin never stopped running from second, scoring to extend the lead to 7-4. Johnny Rizer continued the onslaught as he ripped an RBI single to right, sending Hall to third, with the score now 8-4. An errant throw back to the mound from catcher Gunnar Troutwine during the next plate appearance allowed Hall to scamper home from third to cap the five-run frame with Delmarva ahead 9-4.
Hall capped off his marvelous campaign with his 45th multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a Triple, RBI, run scored and a walk.
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