Nettles and Tucker Star As Somerset Sweeps Bridgeport

Added by Philip Mathew on May 18, 2012.

Jeff Nettles has been swinging a hot bat for the Patriots.

The Somerset Patriots continued their dominance at home with a 4-2 victory over the Bridgeport Bluefish Thursday night at TD Bank Ballpark.  With the victory, Somerset finished a three-game sweep of the Liberty Division leaders coming into the series.  The Patriots also kept in touch with Freedom Division rival Lancaster in the standings.

Bridgeport was looking to salvage the final game of the three-game set in a battle of the two division leaders, and came out strong early.  With two down, Prentice Redman doubled to left field and Luis Lopez scored Redman on a single to left field over Rex Rundgren’s head for a 1-0 Bluefish lead.

Somerset answered in the second off the hot bat of Jeff Nettles.  Nettles, currently on a nine game hitting streak, extended it to ten with a solo home run over the left field fence.  The score was tied at one after two innings.

Jonny Tucker would give the Patriots a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third, with a two-out solo home run, his first of the year.  Somerset would load the bases after, but they were left stranded.  Tucker would continue his solid night in the fourth inning.

With one down, Yusuf Carter doubled to center field and advanced on a Johnny Drennen groundout.  Rundgren drew a walk on four pitches and Tucker earned his second RBI of the night on a single to left field for a 3-1 Patriots lead.

Somerset extended their lead to 4-1 in the fifth after Freddy Sandoval led off with a double to left center.  Sandoval advanced to third on a Jesse Hoorelbeke groundout.  Nettles continued his tear with a double to center field, scoring Sandoval.

Bridgeport scored a run in the sixth inning, on the legs of Joey Gathright.  Gathright was hit by a Doug Arguello pitch to get on base.  Gathright advanced to second on a passed ball, stole third and came home on another Arguello passed ball.  The score was 4-2 after six innings and Arguello’s night was over.

While the Bluefish put runners on against closer Josh Rupe in the ninth inning, the Patriots were able to hold on to the victory.  Arguello took the win after pitching six solid innings, giving up two runs and two hits in the process.

Bridgeport starter Issac Hess took his first loss of the season after surrendering four runs and eight hits in five innings pitched.  Rupe earned the save as the Patriots go on the road for a three-game weekend series against the Long Island Ducks.

Somerset returns home next week for a four-game set against the Camden Riversharks from Thursday-Sunday.  The Thursday game is an 11:05 a.m. start, with 7:05 p.m. first pitches on Friday and Saturday.  For the closing game, the start time is 1:05 p.m.