Hampton, VA – Michael Dolberry (Longwood) hit a three run blast in the top of the first inning and an excellent pitching

performance from Hayden Snelsire (Randolph Macon) advanced the Tri-City Chili Peppers to a 6-3 victory over the Peninsula Pilots for the second straight game Tuesday night at Peninsula War Memorial Field. Tri City (10-8) moved to 2-1 in the middle game of a stretch of five consecutive games against the Pilots (6-14) as the series shifts to Shepherd Stadium for a doubleheader this Thursday.

Dolberry made the Pilots pay for two defensive miscues ahead of his at-bat in the first inning, rivaling Brandon Eike’s first blast from game 2 on Sunday, sending a cannon over the scoreboard in left for his fifth round-tripper of the year and matching Eike’s team leading HR total. A 3-0 lead was plenty of room for Snelsire to go to work, as he pounded the strike zone all night long. 11 of 17 Peninsula batters that faced Snelsire started their at bats with a first pitch strike or out, including a string of six batters in a row from the third inning into the fourth. The only run Snelsire allowed came in the third inning on a double by his Randolph Macon teammate Hunter Cole.

The Chili Peppers added to the lead in the fourth with a walk and two base hits, culminated by an RBI double from William Bean (Virginia Commonwealth). Danny Estrada (Frostburg State) added to the lead with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1. Tri-City added the sixth and final run in the top of the fifth with some good fortune as the Pilots’ second baseman slipped and fell in shallow right field while fielding a grounder by Eli Weisner (Charlotte) forcing a late throw to the plate as Dolberry came in to score from second base. There was yet another round of heavy rain that hit War Memorial Field just before the Chili Peppers arrived for batting practice that made the outfield borderline unplayable and caused a handful of players to have trouble tracking down fly balls.

Hunter Cole hit his second RBI double with the bases loaded in the Pilots’ half of the seventh that scored two runs but was denied a third as Cole Jenkins (Virginia Military) and Bean combined to throw out Henry Garcia (Howard) at the plate with one of the strongest relay plays of the season, preserving the lead 6-3.

The Pilots brought the tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings but Will Riley earned the save on a controversial called third strike against Cole Stanford (Lenoir-Rhyne) that drew the third ejection of the game of a Pilots player or coach.

Official Box Score: Peninsula Pilots vs. Tri-City Chili Peppers – Coastal Plain League – boxscore | Pointstreak Sports Technologies

Upcoming Games:

Thursday, June 29 (5:30 & 7:00) vs. Peninsula Pilots

Friday, June 30 (5:00 & 7:00) @ Morehead City Marlins, Listen on Mixlr