COLONIAL HEIGHTS, VA. – The Peninsula Pilots (14-4) steal another game on the road against the Tri-City Chili Peppers (4-13) and move their magic number down to four. 

The Pilots scored runs in three of their first five trips to the plate, starting in the first inning with Alden Mathes (University of Richmond) coming around to touch home plate on a wild pitch. 

Another run scored in the third from a solo opposite field home run off the bat of Erik Stock (Connecticut) to make it 2-0 Pilots. A couple innings later, Peninsula drove around three more runs in the top of the fifth to stretch their lead up to five. 

An inning later, Tri-City would enter the scoring column with an RBI single from Ben Williamson (William and Mary) who would later score in a first and third situation where Cade Swisher (Virginia Tech) successfully stole second and the throw down allowed Williamson to score the second run of the frame. 

From there, the game became a battle of the bullpens, with both sides getting great showings from their relievers. The Pilots leaned on Mathes to record the final nine outs and only had one runner reach against him. The lefty arm tallied his second save of the summer. 

Meanwhile for Tri-City, Ian Evans (Elon) was the first bullpen arm called on and the righty traversed through 3.2 innings of work, picking up five strikeouts. He was followed by Gavin Bates (Iona) who tossed a scoreless ninth inning for the Chili Peppers.

Despite the result, Tri-City battled to the end against the East Division’s top team and they get a chance at revenge tonight against the Pilots. 

First pitch is set for 7 p.m, for more information, check out chilipeppersbaseball.com and follow the team on social media for all the latest news and updates.