The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs split their doubleheader against the Charleston Dirty Birds on Tuesday evening.
The Blue Crabs fell in game one by a final score of 3-2 following a walk off double by Travis Demeritte. Southern Maryland took a 1-0 lead in the first when Dondrei Hubbard doubled in Jackson Loftin to open the scoring.
Charleston tied the ballgame when James Nelson smacked his league-leading 25th home run of the season in the third inning. The Dirty Birds then took a 2-1 lead after tallying a run in the sixth. Southern Maryland came through in the seventh, though, tying the game on a Pearce Howard RBI double.
Demeritte won the ballgame in extras for Charleston, but game two was a different story.
The Crabs offense exploded late for a 7-2 victory. Southern Maryland struck in the first with a Jamari Baylor sacrifice fly to take a 1-0 lead. Two-way player Cael Chatham kept the Dirty Birds off the board with four scoreless inning on the mound.
Charleston scored in the sixth to tie it at 1-1. But the Crabs tallied six in the seventh to take a 7-1 lead. After Loftin walked and Zach Racusin singled, Jamari Baylor smacked a go-ahead RBI single. Then Ethan Wilson scored on wild pitch before Pearce Howard doubled in Baylor. Pearce Howard then roped an RBI double before Willie Estrada reached on a single and advanced on a throwing error to give the Crabs a 7-1 lead.
Cody Thompson allowed a run in the bottom of the seventh but closed the game out for Southern Maryland.
The Crabs now sit 44-37 overall and 8-11 in the second half. Southern Maryland will be back in action on Wednesday night at GoMart Ballpark with first pitch set for 6:35 p.m.