Camden Riversharks (48-57, 25-17) @ York Revolution (61-44, 25-17)

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Sovereign Bank Stadium:  York, PA

CLICK HERE FOR FULL BOX SCORE & PLAY-BY-PLAY

CASTRO'S WALK-OFF HOMER CEMENTS SWEEP AS REVS STEAL SERIES FINALE 

Down to their final out and their final strike, Ramon Castro provided one of the more memorable moments of the season on Tuesday night, launching a game-winning three-run walk-off homerun down the left field line and over the Arch Nemesis, propelling the York Revolution to a three-game sweep of the Camden Riversharks, winning 7-5 at Sovereign Bank Stadium.  The Revs are now 17 games over .500 for the first time in club history, and lead the division by 5.0 games, their largest lead of the season.

Trailing by a run, Scott Grimes squibbed a seemingly routine grounder to first base but beat pitcher John Bale, who dropped the flip from Toby Hall, to first base, extending the game with an infield single.  Bale then issued a four-pitch walk to Chris Walker, setting the scene for the dramatic finish.

Castro fell behind in the count 0-2, but after fouling off multiple two-strike pitches, connected on the deciding blast.

The homerun spoiled Camden’s own comeback attempt, as the Riversharks came back from down 3-0 with a four-run sixth inning, and then broke a tie on Juan Francia’s two-out RBI single in the eighth to go up 5-4.

The Revs opened the scoring with two in the first on a two-out RBI single by Chris Nowak and a ground rule RBI double by Bryant Nelson.  Nowak then blasted his 21^st homerun of the season to left field, a solo shot in the bottom of the third to increase the lead to 3-0.

Revs starter Shaun Garceau carried a shutout into the sixth, retiring 12 of 13 faced with nine strikeouts through the end of five innings.  But the Sharks, who had been held to just two runs and 12 hits in the first 19 innings of the series to that point, batted around, rallying for four runs to take a 4-3 lead.

Noah Hall’s RBI single got Camden on the board, bringing Garceau’s night to a close after 94 pitches.  After Lloyd Turner crossed the plate on a wild pitch, Danny Richar drove in a run with a single to left field to tie it, and Toby Hall clobbered a go-ahead single off the Arch Nemesis to give Camden their first lead of the series.

Liubiemithz Rodriguez tied the game for the Revs in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out single to right evening the score at 4-4.

R.J. Rodriguez (2-2) earned the win with 1.1 scoreless innings, striking out three.

Bale (1-2) suffered the loss.

Notes: The sweep is the Revs’ record 10^th of the season.  The Revs finish the home season series against the Riversharks 9-0, having swept all three meetings in York.  The Revs now own an eight-game home winning streak tying a club record.  York’s Dumas Garcia (1-2, 5.40) faces Long Island’s Ruddy Lugo (5-3, 5.91) in the series opener on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.  It is a Wing Wednesday at Sovereign Bank Stadium, as well as Legends Hospitality Taste Test Night.  Tickets are available at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS and in-person at the Apple Chevrolet Ticket Office.