Shorebirds furious comeback bid falls short in finale LAKEWOOD, NJ (wesm) - The Delmarva Shorebirds battled back from a 6-0 deficit but fell short as the BlueClaws held on for a 6-5 win at FirstEnergy Park in the series finale.

The Shorebirds are now five games out of first place with seven games left. The Shorebirds plated five runs in the top of the seventh inning.

The BlueClaws bolted to a 5-0 lead after the third inning. Zach Collier hit a one out single and Hanzawa drew a walk. Harold Garcia also walked to load the bases. Anthony Gose then connected a two run single up the middle. After a D'Arnaud walk, Steve Susdorf hit a two RBI single to make it 4-0 'Claws. The next batter, Jim Murphy hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 5-0.

In the sixth, the BlueClaws went ahead 6-0 on a triple by Travis Mattair that plated D'Arnaud.

The Shorebirds stormed back in the seventh inning. Xavier Avery led off with a walk. Luis Bernardo then smoked a double to the left field corner that plated Avery to cut the deficit to 6-1. Hudson followed by drawing a walk. Two batters later, Ron Welty blasted a triple to right center field to score both Bernardo and Hudson to inch within 6-3. Elvin Polanco then hit a sharp single to right to score Ron Welty. The next batter, Tyler Kolodny crushed a double to left center to score Polanco and cut the BlueClaws lead to 6-5.

The Shorebirds went in order in both the eighth and ninth inning. BJ Rosenberg earned the save by striking out the side in the top of the ninth.

The Delmarva Shorebirds welcome the Lake County Captains to Arthur W. Perdue Stadium on Wednesday at 7:05 PM. © Copyright 2009, wesm