Tyler Wilson starts tonight for the Keys knowing a win would put Frederick in first place.

Behind Eduardo Rodriguez’s stellar start, the Keys beat Lynchburg on the road last night, 7-2. Another win over the Hillcats tonight would put Frederick (20-17) a half game ahead of Lynchburg (20-16) and back into first place in the Carolina League North. First pitch is at 6:05 p.m.

*As for last night’s win:

READ: The recap’s here. Box score is here. Rodriguez has now won three starts in a row.

LISTEN: Christian Walker’s first Carolina League home run

*And as for tonight’s game, some notes:

• Has yet to make it out of fifth inning in a road start, exiting after four innings after allowing five runs, four earned, at Winston Salem in last start.
• Went 7-7 with a 3.49 ERA and a WHIP of 1.03 in ’12, making 19 starts for Frederick and striking out 114.
• Rated by Baseball America as the Orioles’ 26^th-best prospect.
• Won 22 games at UVA despite only starting as a senior, when he went 10-0 with a 2.24 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 16 starts. Drafted by the Orioles in 2011 in the 10th round.

LAST APPEARANCE FOR WILSON:

• Worked around eight base hits and a two walks over 5.2 innings at Carolina in his last start to pick up his third win of the season.
• He beat the Keys on April 17 for his first win of the season, striking out seven over five innings and allowing just an unearned run.
• Went 5-9 with a 4.04 ERA in 17 games, 15 starts, for Class-A Rome in 2012.
• Was drafted in the 16th round by Atlanta in the 2011 draft out of St. Joseph’s, where he split time as a starter and a reliever.

Chaz Packan sat down with first baseman Connor Narron for Q&A session in this edition of Rounding The Bases.

On Friday May 10^th I had the chance to sit down with Keys First Baseman Connor Narron for a “Keys Q & A” for this week’s edition of Rounding the Bases. Narron was sent to Delmarva on Sunday.

CP:  How do you feel about playing for the Frederick Keys?

CN: “I love it because my father was a manager here it’s a good opportunity to play in this ballpark and be close to home”.

CP: How does it feel from a personal perspective that your father was the first manager in Keys history and this is the 25^th season of Keys Baseball?

CN: “I actually didn’t know he managed here until everybody around here told me and its pretty cool to put the same uniform on that he did 25 years ago”.

CP: What are your earliest memories of baseball?

CN: “Being in the clubhouse with my dad seeing all the big league players and future hall of famers and how they go about their business”.

CP: Having been around the game of baseball growing up, who did you look up to in the major leagues as your role model?

CN: “Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, and A-Rod before the steroid rumors because they all played for my dad”.

CP: Each player takes a different approach to hitting whether hot or cold, as a player how do you approach each at bat depending on the situation?

CN: “I try to see what the pitcher can throw for a strike during warm-ups and during the game I see if he’s throwing strikes if he is not throwing strikes I sit on a fastball the rest of the at-bat”.

CP: What are your thoughts on the team’s performance so far this season?

CN: “Our pitching is doing a great job so far, our hitting has not really came about but once we start hitting we will be pretty dangerous”.

CP: What was your first reaction to being drafted by the Orioles in the 2010 draft?

CN:  “Growing up I always wanted to play professional baseball and win a world championship my dad was with the big league club in 1991 so it’s a true blessing to be on a ball club my dad was with and be close to home”.

 *The Keys begin six-game road trip tonight at Lynchburg at 6:05 p.m. Game notes below:

• Has won his last two starts, combining for 13 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 2 BB and 10 K
• Rated by Baseball America as the fifth-best prospect in Orioles organization and third-best pitching prospect behind 2012 Keys Dylan Bundy & Kevin Gausman.
• Potentially could be the first Venezuelan player signed, developed and promoted to the majors by Baltimore.
• At age 20, he is the youngest player on the Keys’ roster by two months; Zach Davies, also 20, is the second youngest.

LAST APPEARANCE FOR RODRIGUEZ:

• Won his first three starts of the season before lasting just an inning his last start on Saturday, allowing four runs on five hits to Carolina.
• Pitched for Class-A Rome in 2012 and finished the season in the rotation, starting seven games. Went 2-1 with 4.31 ERA as a starter and 3-0 with a 3.79 as a reliever
• Drafted in the 21st round out of UNC-Greensboro by Atlanta in 2011
   

DELMONICO GOING DEEP: After missing three weeks with a concussion, Nicky Delmonico has returned to the lineup and tallied a single hit in both of the Keys’ games – a home run. Delmonico’s four long balls this season tie him for the team-lead. He hit a pair of homers against Lynchburg at Harry Grove Stadium in April.

 Shake your Keys.

Keys catcher Zane Chavez has been red-hot over his last nine games.

If you haven’t been paying close attention, the Keys seem to have hit their stride again.

Back atop the Carolina League Northern Division standings at 18-13, Frederick has won four in a row, six of its last seven and eight of its last 11 games. The Keys take the field again at 7 p.m. tonight in Winston-Salem. Listen on AM1450 The Source or wthu.org. The Frederick Gorilla Pregame Show starts 30 minutes prior to first pitch.

As for last night’s 10-3 victory at Winston-Salem:

*READ: A recap of what happened from the Frederick News Post and on FrederickKeys.com 

*LISTEN: The highlight of the game - Glynn Davis’ bases-loaded triple

*As for tonight, some notes:

NO RUNS FOR YOU: The Keys have lowered their team ERA nearly six points in the last week, bringing it to 3.54, which is second-best in the Carolina League. Frederick was in last place in pitching and had the only ERA over 4.00 before their recent stretch.

*In light of Chavez’s hot streak and strong start to the season, you might be interested in reading this story about him and teammate Marcel Prado (12 games, 1.72 ERA, three saves) getting a shot with the Keys after spending last season with independent El Paso.

Editor’s Note: This is the first entry in a season-long series written by Keys super-fan Chaz Packan.

In the Keys first home stand of the 2013 season the Keys compiled a 3-3 record.

The first home stand of the season began with a 3-game sweep of the Salem Red Sox. In the season opener at the Grove, starting pitcher Devin Jones tossed six innings of three-hit ball with 3 strikeouts, 1 walk and 1 earned run. The Keys offense provided the fireworks to back up Jones’ stellar six-inning performance with a 3-run homer by Trent Mummey and a 2-run homer by Branden Webb capping off a 5-run sixth inning extending the Keys’ lead to 10-1. The Keys would add on another run in the seventh inning on a Glynn Davis double scoring Sammie Starr to make it an 11-1 game. Keys relief pitcher Gene Escat shut down Salem in the 9^th and the Keys began their first home stand of 2012 with a 1-0 record overall.

The Keys games on Saturday April 6^th and Sunday April 7^th were both won in walk-off fashion. On Saturday the Keys won 3-2 in the ninth inning on a Sammie Starr sacrifice fly with Jerome Pena scoring the winning run with a season-opening sweep in their sights on Sunday. On Sunday, the Keys were trailing Salem 1-0 when Glynn Davis stepped to the plate in the sixth inning with a chance to tie the game, Davis proceeded to hit a solo home run to tie the game at 1-1. The game would remain tied at 1 until the tenth inning when Davis again stepped in the box with Connor Narron on second base. On the ensuing pitch Davis hit a 2-run walk-off bomb to deep left-center field to win the game 3-1 and lead the Keys to a season opening three-game sweep.

The home stand continued on Tuesday night with the Keys hosting the Winston-Salem Dash in the first game of a 3-game series the Dash entered the series with an 0-3 record but unfortunately by the end of the series with the Dash, the Keys would begin their first road trip with a 3-3 record after three straight defeats at the hands of the Dash. The first loss of the season for the Keys came in the series opener where they dropped a 5-4 decision after leading 4-2 after the first five innings of play. From there the visiting Dash would answer with a run in the sixth, a run in the ninth, and a run in the tenth holding on for a 5-4 victory dropping the Keys record to 3-1 on the year.

The next game on Wednesday night was one to forget as the Keys fell behind 5-0. The only bright spot came in the seventh when Sammie Starr rocketed a 2-run shot out of the park to cut the deficit to 5-2, however in the end it was not enough as the Dash hung on to win 5-2. In the final game of the six-game home stand on Thursday night the Keys fell 5-4 despite tying the game twice which included a Jason Esposito homer to tie the game at 4 apiece, the Dash would answer with a run in the seventh to take the lead for good and hang on for a 5-4 victory dropping the Keys overall record to 3-3 heading to Wilmington to face the Blue Rocks in a three game series.

Travis Adair went 3-for-5 in last night’s loss.

In case you missed it, the Keys lost their first game of the season yesterday, falling 5-4 in 10 innings to previously winless Winston-Salem.

The Keys held a 4-3 lead with two out and nobody on in the ninth, but the Dash rallied with an infield single and three walks to tie the game and win it the next inning. Tonight’s game starts at 7 at The Grove. LHP Eduardo Rodriguez, the Orioles’ No. 3 pitching prospect according to Baseball America, squares off against righty Justin Collop from Winston-Salem. Get your tickets now.

Coverage of last night’s game is below.

*LISTEN: Kevan Smith’s game-winning RBI single for Winston-Salem.

*GAME STORIES: FNP, FrederickKeys.com

*WATCH: Highlights on WHAG news

*READ: A scouting report on Zach Davies’ start from Baltimoresportsandlife.com’s Tucker Blair

*Other bits of interest from this afternoon

-Keys broadcaster and AGM Adam Pohl talked with the guys at Baltimore Sports Report for their podcast. Listen Here.

-On Flag Day, June 14, The Keys will be part of a special ceremony in honor of the 200th anniversary of Francis Scott Key, for whom the Keys are named, penning the poem that would become our national anthem. As part of the two-day ceremony that will feature the original manuscript of The Star-Spangled Banner, a marker will be installed at Harry Grove Stadium before the 6 p.m. game against Potomac that evening.

Read all about it in Find it Frederick magazine, beginning on page 56.

*Some notes on tonight’s game:

BREAKING OUT: After putting up a combined six runs in its first three games, Winston-Salem put five on the board Tuesday night in the Dash’s first victory of the season. The Dash raised their team batting average from .170 to .191 last night, thanks to nine hits.

TOP PROSPECT: The top White Sox prospect Courtney Hawkins went 1-for-10 with a single, six strikeouts and a stolen base in his first three games this season. A 19-year-old outfielder, Hawkins did not play Tuesday, but had five hits in five games with the Dash in 2012.

This Day in Keys History: April 10, 2000 - Led by OF Papy Ndungidi, the Keys topped Kinston 8-7 at Harry Grove Stadium. Ndungidi, who is Canadian, went 2-for-3 with a home run and 2 RBIs.

*And tonight’s Keys lineup:

See you at The Grove. Shake your Keys.