Taylor, Brown homer to help 'Claws to 5-2 win

Sampson earns second win of the season

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Michael Taylor and Dominic Brown both went deep to power the BlueClaws to a 5- 2 victory over Lexington on Tuesday night at FirstEnergy Park.

The victory wrapped up the first series win in a four- game set this season for Lakewood and moved the 'Claws to .500 for the third time this season. The BlueClaws have not been over .500 at any point this season.

Taylor staked Lakewood to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, driving the first pitch he saw from Lexington starter Leandro Cespedes over the leftfield fence. It was the second homer in as many games for the BlueClaws leftfielder, who hit a three-run home run in Monday's 11-7 Lakewood win.

Dominic Brown also homered to start the third inning off of Cespedes (2-2). The line drive home run to right was Brown's third of the season and second of the series.

Julian Sampson (2-1) pitched six innings, allowing just one run on four hits. The 19-year old right-hander had failed to reach the fifth inning in each of his last two starts.

But on Tuesday night Sampson looked in command from the start, allowing just one second-inning run. Sampson walked Rusty Dixon before giving up a two- out single to Steve Brown.

That was the only run the Legends (10-22) would get against Sampson. Yen-Feng Lin pitched a pair of perfect innings, but Joe Rocchio gave up a run on three hits in the ninth.

Lakewood will get an off day on Wednesday as they head to Kannapolis for a four-game series starting on Thursday. The BlueClaws (16-16) and Intimidators split a four-game series at FirstEnergy Park last week.

The BlueClaws return home on Friday, May 16 to take on the West Virginia Power, the Class A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. There will be post-game fireworks, courtesy of Toyota and Scion World of Lakewood.

For more information about the BlueClaws, click on the headline and go to the team's Web site.