Baysox Notebook: Avery, Baysox Running Away With Games

The Bowie Baysox are turning their games into track meets.

Manager Gary Kendall’s team is running wild in the early days of the 2011 season. They have an Eastern League-high 26 stolen bases—three of which came in the series opener at Erie last night. Bowie’s also been caught 12 times, so if you put the numbers together, the Baysox have tried to steal 38 times, far more than anyone else in the league.

But most of the early credit goes to leadoff hitter Xavier Avery, who posted two more steals in . Avery’s now got a league-high 12 steals, something that’s even more impressive considering he’s batting just .226.

“It makes it easier for my teammates to get RBIs when I get into scoring position,” he said. “I love hitting leadoff because I feel like I’m the first guy that gets to go out and set the tone in that position.”

Avery stole 38 bases last year between Frederick and Bowie, but he appears on pace to do a lot more damage than that this. This will help Bowie this weekend against Erie and throughout the season because, as Avery said, it sets the table for everyone else.

In addition, the Baysox need offensive help since they’ve got just a .230 batting average through the first 14 games.

MCCURRY BRINGS RELIEF

Cole McCurry has given the Baysox some much-needed relief out of the bullpen in his first three appearances—the last of which came in the opener of the Erie series last night.

He retired all seven batters he faced to help Bowie hold on for a 7-6 victory over the SeaWolves. The left-hander now is 0-0 with an 0.96 ERA in 9 1/3 innings. McCurry also has struck out nine and walked only three so far.

McCurry began the season with Frederick but came up to Bowie after one appearance with the Keys. Since then, he’s been almost perfect.

Bowie needs help out of the bullpen, especially in the middle of the game, as the starters are getting set to go longer, and it’s still early in the season.

Erie might see him again this weekend, and the SeaWolves probably would rather not. He gave up no runs on one hit in four innings against them earlier this week and then had the 2 1/3-inning perfect effort last night.

 BACK WITH BOWIE AND DOING FINE

Jeff Fiorentino is back with the Baysox and off to a good start once more.

Fiorentino played with Bowie in 2006, 2007 and 2009. He got some time with the Orioles also as well as Oakland and played in Japan last season.

But the Baysox are glad to have him back in 2001.

He’s second on the time in average (.275) and is tied for first in homers (two). But Fiorentino leads Bowie with 10 RBIs and has become a solid clutch hitter that the Baysox need as they’re looking for runs in the first part of the season.