The Blue Crabs wildly successful second season was pushed to the brink Saturday night by the Somerset Patriots in Game 4 of the Atlantic League Championship Series. With an 8-6 victory, Somerset takes a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-five, with the Blue Crabs looking to stave off elimination Sunday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. at Regency Furniture Stadium.

Staff ace John Halama will start on full rest for the Crabs, the nine-year Major League veteran. On Saturday however, the Crabs let two separate four-run leads slip away in defeat.

The Blue Crabs wasted no time in jumping out to an early lead, sensing a championship was near with the lefty Halama starting Game 4. Southern Maryland rocked Somerset starter Brian Adams, as they collected five hits in the bottom of the first to plate four runs. The first four batters of the game reached safely on hits, as John Ramistella and James Shanks each smacked doubles to the left field gap to make it 1-0 Blue Crabs.

Travis Garcia then rapped a single to score Shanks, and with one out Cesar Nicolas smoked a double into the left field corner down the foul line to plate Garcia and Patrick Osborn, who also singled. The Patriots would get a run back in the second, when Travis Anderson drilled a two-out solo homer to left field off Southern Maryland starter Ryan Bicondoa.

The Crabs would quickly respond however, when Ramistella led the bottom of the second with a single, and was moved over to third by another Shanks double. With one out, 12-year Major League veteran Michael Tucker made the score 5-1 with a sacrifice fly into centerfield scoring Ramistella. In the top of the fourth, Anderson was hit by a Bicondoa pitch with two out, and the Pats stole a run back on a double by Elliott Ayala to centerfield past a diving Jeremy Owens which scored Anderson all the way from first.

With the score 5-2, Somerset once again rallied with two outs in fifth, tying the game on a Noah Hall double, who scored on a Jason Belcher RBI single, and then in the blink of an eye the game was tied 5-5 after Jeff Nettles homered to left field with Belcher still on base. With the first five Patriot runs coming with two outs, they would ultimately seize the momentum to complete the comeback.

With the score still tied in the seventh, Somerset got to the Blue Crabs bullpen, as Southern Maryland needed four pitchers (Estrada, Righter, Schweitzer and De La Rosa) to complete the inning. The Patriots sent nine batters to the plate and scored three runs on a Belcher RBI single and a two-run single from Anderson, who went 2-3 on the night with three RBI total.

The never-say-die Blue Crabs would not go quietly into the night however, and tacked on one final run in the home half of the seventh. The Crabs made Pats second baseman Matt Hagen pay for a two-out error on a ground ball off the bat of Octavio Martinez, as Martinez scored all the way from first after Mike Just laced a double into the left field gap.

It was the final tally in the 8-6 win for the visitors. After the lefty starter Adams was chased from the ballgame after just an inning and a third, right-hander Josh Miller, who started 14 games for the Pats this season, entered and was phenomenal in long relief for Somerset. Miller lasted five and a third innings, scattering eight hits allowing one un-earned run with a walk and a strikeout to earn the win.

Meanwhile Adams was taken off the hook after surrendering seven hits, five runs all of which were earned, despite three strikeouts and no walks. Righty Paul Estrada took the loss in one total inning of relief for the Blue Crabs, and fellow right-hander Ryan Bicondoa went five innings allowing seven hits, five runs all earned, with four strikeouts and no walks.

Tossing the final two and a third innings for the Patriots, righty Travis Minix earned his second save of the post-season allowing just one hit with a walk and a strikeout. The Blue Crabs will next be in action Sunday afternoon at Regency Furniture Stadium in Southern Maryland for Game 4 of the Atlantic League Championship Series against the Somerset Patriots. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.