Steamers Fall To River Bandits, Walks and Runners Left On Bury Clams in Game One
Tarboro, NC – The Steamers’ arms have struggled with free passes all season and in game one of the PCL Championship Series it continued. The Tarboro River Bandits defeated the Edenton Steamers, 8-4, Thursday night at Tarboro Municipal Stadium. The Clams allowed just five total River Bandits hits but allowed 12 walks in the defeat.
The struggles on the hill started in the very first inning. Clams starter Zane Loveday squandered an early 2-0 lead for the Steamers. Loveday allowed five walks and two runs without giving up a base hit. Loveday recorded just one out before Steamers head coach Justin Hill made an early change.
It was just the second time this season that the southpaw from Fairmont State has been removed without finishing a full inning.
Left-handed pitcher Luke Dilda was the first arm out of the pen to try and limit the damage with the bases loaded and one out in the inning. Dilda gave up two more runs on a single by River Bandits Cam Greenway and a walk to Kevin Jones to make it a 4-2 game.
After the long first, Dilda started to settle in with a clean. The left-handed arm finished with 3.2 innings pitched with two runs allowed on two hits with five walks and two strikeouts.
Dilda allowed two bases runners in the fifth inning before giving way to Reuben Costin, the Steamers’ third left-handed arm of the game.
Costin allowed two more runs to score on a sacrifice fly by Greenway and a wild pitch that got away from catcher Tyler Overaitis.
Similarly to Dilda, after the first few batters, Costin settled in and retired six out of the next seven River Bandits batters. However, in the eighth inning, the River Bandits added on some insurance.
With a runner on first base and two outs, Tarboro’s Armani Newton launched a two-run home run to put the River Bandits up 8-4.
Costin finished with four innings, two runs allowed (on the home run by Newton) three hits, and two walks.
On the flip side, the Steamers’ offense did not establish any rhythm with the bats. The Clams’ offense got going early in the first inning on a two-run home run by Gabe Kirck. Kirck now has two home runs in four playoff games. The first baseman had just two home runs in 39 regular season games.
The Steamers got another run across in the third inning with the bases loaded. Ty Garza was hit by Tarboro starter Camdyn Martindale to force in the Clams’ third run of the game. That was all the team would get after three straight singles to start the inning.
Edenton just got one more run across on an RBI double by Garza in the top of the 8th inning to make the score 6-4.
The Steamers could not cash in runners in scoring position. The Clams left a total of nine base runners on and finished the game with just one base hit in 10 total attempts with runners on second or third base.
Since three straight 10+ run performances to close out the regular season, the Steamers’ highest run total in four playoff games is six in a 7-6 loss to Greenbrier on Monday.
For the second straight series, the Steamers will have to come back from down 1-0 to win. The two teams will face on Friday night for game two at Historic Hicks Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00pm. The game will be streamed on the Edenton Steamers YouTube page.
If you cannot make it to the game you can tune into the Steamers YouTube page, your home for every Steamers 2023 playoff game.