RiverDogs Complete the Sweep of Lakewood - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports

The Charleston RiverDogs scored five runs in the second inning and shut out the Lakewood BlueClaws for the final eight innings to earn a 5-1 win with 4,737 on hand at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park on Friday night. The win finished off a three-game sweep of Lakewood and kept the RiverDogs in first place with the best record in the South Atlantic League at 19-7, with the BlueClaws falling to 9-17.

Lakewood scored first against the RiverDog's Brett Gerritse, when Kyrell Hudson singled and moved to third on a base hit by Carlos Perdomo. A groundout by Bob Stumpo scored Hudson for the game's first run. 

In the bottom of the second, the RiverDogs responded with five runs off Lakewood's Lino Martinez (2-2). After a single and a walk to start the inning, Ben Gamel doubled to right-center to score both runners. Gamel moved to third on a fly ball and, after a walk to Casey Stevenson, scored on a fielders choice hit to third base by Ali Castillo. Mason Williams hit into a fielders choice and an error scored Stevenson and moved Williams to second. An Angelo Gumbs RBI single to right field knocked in the fifth and final run of the inning and the RiverDogs had a four-run lead. 

Gerritse settled down after his rocky first and allowed just one run on four hits with four strikeouts in four innings. Joel De La Cruz (1-0) took over in the fifth and pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to get the win in his RiverDogs' debut. 

The stellar work by the RiverDogs bullpen continued in the seventh when Fred Lewis took over the pitching chore and threw two more scoreless frames, inducing a double play grounder to end the 7^th and working around a lead-off double in the 8^th. Philip Wetherell finished the game with a scoreless ninth inning to complete the RiverDogs eighth straight home win. The RiverDogs sweep of the BlueClaws is their fourth of the season.