David Hamilton went 4 for 5 with two homeruns including a grandslam and seven RBI on Friday night, as the Portland Sea Dogs defeated the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 11-6 in the season opener for both teams at Hadlock Field in Portland.
Hamilton tied a franchise record with those seven RBI, coming just a double short of the cycle. Portland trailed after the first pitch of the game, as New Hampshire got a leadoff solo homerun from Tanner Morris. That is the only lead the Fisher Cats had however. Hamilton led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple, and eventually scored on a double by Izzy Wilson. The hosts scored four times in their half of that opening inning. Hamilton hit his first career Sea Dogs homerun with a two-run shot in the second inning to make it 6-1, and later in the fourth unloaded the bases with a grandslam to right field to extend the advantage to 11-1.
Christian Koss, Tyreque Reed, Tyler Dearden, and Kole Cottam each had two hits to go along with the big night from Hamilton. Chris Murphy got a no-decision on the mound in the win allowing one run on two hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in 4.0 innings. Chase Shugart got the win in relief. Morris led New Hampshire in the loss reaching base four times with the homerun and three walks and also scored two runs. Elvis Luciano was tagged in the pitching defeat allowing six runs on eight hits in 2.0 innings. The three game series continues on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
