May 4, 2014 – Bowie Baysox 8, Erie SeaWolves 5 – Prince George’s Stadium (Bowie)

Baysox are top dogs

Umpires: HP: Ryan Clark. 1B: Sean Ryan. 3B: Jeremie Rehak.

Weather: 70 degrees, sunny.

Wind: 15 mph, Out to RF.

T: 2:44.

Att: 4,126.

Section 203, Row P, Seat 21 – Typical location when I see the Baysox or Keys play, section not too far to the right of home plate, on the aisle, two rows in front of the concourse. Out of the sun, which didn’t matter much early but was a disadvantage when the temperature dropped about 10 degrees and the wind kicked up in the sixth inning.

Despite the nice weather and the “Bark in the Park” promotion, attendance wasn’t exactly great. The number of humans in the park seemed closer to half of the announced attendance. Their canine friends were generally very well-behaved, and were distributed throughout the stadium rather than having their own special section.

Since the game didn’t start until 2:05, I stopped at Nando’s in Silver Spring for lunch, snacking on soft-serve ice cream and a soft pretzel as the afternoon went on.

As the Bowie and Erie starting pitchers came in with records of 1-3, 8.03 and 0-4, 11.57, respectively, a slugfest seemed likely. The SeaWolves threatened in the first with two singles and a walk but failed to score, while Bowie put two on the board on a homer by Cuban defector Dariel Alvarez. (Keep an eye out for that name.) Things slowed down for a while after that, as Erie managed one run in the next 4 innings while the Baysox went 12 up and 12 down. After the SeaWolves tied things up in the top of the sixth, Bowie broke the game open in the bottom of the frame, starting with a 3-run homer by Christian Walker and tacking on two more before the inning ended. The SeaWolves made things a little interesting in the ninth by scoring two runs before a batter had been retired, but a hard bouncer back to the pitcher was turned into a double play, effectively ending the threat.

Thanks largely to the long ball, the Baysox were extremely efficient throughout the game, stranding only 3 baserunners. Somewhat oddly, none of their batters struck out until the 8^th inning.

Prior to the game, as I was about to write down the starting lineups that were posted on a white board near the entrance, I was astonished to find that the free game program only had half of a scorecard, with space for one team but not the other. There was a note below – “For a full scorecard, please stop by the Baysox Fan Assistance Center on the 3^rd base main concourse.” There I found several piles of printed materials, including a scorecard that not only had space for both teams, but thoughtfully had the starting lineups already preprinted. There were also comprehensive game notes for each team (presumably identical to those provided to the media), as well as rosters and stats. Quite a nice package for the more geeky fans such as myself.