Now, we're hitting the ball well. The victory was their third in a row. Guys are settling in. It was just one of those things. When things aren't going well you just have to hang with it, keep grinding.
Niles knows plenty about sticking with it.
He went into Saturday with a .197 average and was batting ninth as the Sea Dogs' designated hitter instead of filling his usual role as second baseman. But home runs are accidents for me. After Trenton got one of the runs back in the bottom of the sixth with Jorge DeLeon's triple and Garry Maddox II's RBI grounder, Bailey hit his second home run of the season with two outs in the seventh to restore Portland's lead to 5-3. Drumright allowed 11 hits over eight innings but managed to leave Neal with the one-run lead because he did not walk a batter while striking out five. The Thunder threatened against Drumright in the first inning when Jerry Salzano and Edgard Clemente hit singles with one out, but Drumright struck out Virgil Chevalier and Fischer to end the inning.