Opportunity brewed sweet tea and left the porch light on for the Salem Avalanche on Saturday night. Even with its highbeams on and its GPS powered up, the Avalanche couldn't bring the win home.

Salem got a standout performance from a struggling starting pitcher and several scoring chances, but it was the visiting Wilmington Blue Rocks who plated the winning run for a 3-2 Carolina League victory at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium.

Avalanche starter Corey Bass came into the game 3-11 with a 6.78 ERA. On Saturday, though, Bass didn't allow a hit through the first three innings and gave up just two runs in six innings.

Salem, 9-18 in the second half and 39-57 overall, played solid defense throughout the night, and collected as many hits as the Blue Rocks. But Salem manager Jim Pankovits tried every gambit he could think of to manufacture a run for his Avalanche, and all failed.

"I told 'em ... I was gonna be more aggressive with everything, more aggressive with base running, we're going to hit and run more, everything," Pankovits said. "Sometimes it's gonna work and sometimes it's not, but we're not going to just sit here and do nothing."

Bass said despite appearances, things weren't going all that well for him either.

"I really didn't have good command of any of my secondary pitches," he said.

The good news was that he has been working on keeping his fastball down -- "when you leave it up, you see the result," he said making a small airplane swoosh with his hand to illustrate.

"That really helped. I was keeping my fastball down and locating it pretty well," Bass said. "I had to throw my secondary pitches anyway, just to show them. But after the first time through the [batting] order, they kinda knew."

The Avalanche gave Bass the lead with a pair of runs in the third.

With one out, Jordan Parraz tripled to the right-field corner, scoring Jhon Florentino and Roberto Mena, who had reached on a single and double.

Bass having shown everything he had, and all that he didn't to the Blue Rocks in their first go-around, proved vincible the second time around.

"I know I was supposed to go out there and have a shutout inning after we scored," Bass said. "But I can only do so much. Nobody's perfect. I felt like I kept us in the game. It's better than I've been doing."

The Blue Rocks opened the fourth with three straight hits, two singles and a double, to tie the score 2-2.

"He's making progress," Pankovits said. "His past couple of outings have been better. ... We can't rely on [Douglas] Arguello and [Erick] Abreu every night."

The Avalanche had several chances to crack the 2-2 tie first.

Salem put the leadoff man aboard in four of the last six innings, and the first two men on twice. Jimmy Van Ostrand was thrown out trying to score from third with no outs and runners at first and third in the fourth. Then with one out and the bases loaded in the same inning, Florentino struck out and Mena grounded into a fielder's choice.

Parraz got thrown out at the plate trying to score on a flyout to right in the fifth.

Van Ostrand led off the sixth with a single and was thrown out trying to steal second.

Down 3-2 in the ninth, Van Ostrand led off with a walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Nick Moresi. Koby Clemens singled to left and Moresi went to second. Tim Torres tried to bunt the runners over, but catcher Matt Morizio threw Moresi out at third. Brian Bogusevic then ended the game by grounding into a double play.

It was, Pankovits said, a total team effort.

"It wasn't one player, it was everyone in the lineup," he said. "We've got to get better at situational hitting."

How the runs scored

Salem third: One out. Florentino singled. Mena doubled, Florentino to third. Parraz tripled, Florentino scored, Mena scored. Avalanche 2, Blue Rocks 0.

Wilmington fourth: Bianchi singled. Correll doubled, Bianchi to third. Strait singled, Bianchi scored, Correll to third. Mertins grounded into a double play, Correll scored. Avalanche 2, Blue Rocks 2.

Wilmington seventh: One out. Seratelli walked. Morizio reached on a fielder's choice. Robinson walked, Morizio to second. Dominguez relieved Appell. Bianchi doubled, Morizio scored. Blue Rocks 3, Avalanche 2.

WILMINGTON SALEM

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Robinson cf 4 0 1 0 Parraz cf 3 0 2 2

Bianchi ss 5 1 2 1 DeLome lf 4 0 0 0

Correll dh 3 1 1 0 Ori dh 4 0 0 0

Strait rf 4 0 2 1 Van Ostrand 1b 3 0 2 0

Mertins 2b 4 0 0 0 Clemens c 4 0 2 0

Johnson 3b 4 0 1 0 Torres ss 4 0 0 0

Dyson lf 3 0 1 0 Bogusevic rf 3 0 0 0

Seratelli 1b 3 0 0 0 Florentino 3b 3 1 1 0

Morizio c 3 1 0 0 Mena 2b 3 1 1 0

Totals 33 3 8 2 Totals 31 2 8 2

Wilmington 000 200 100 -- 3

Salem 002 000 000 -- 2

E-- Haltiwanger (1). DP -- Wilmington 3, Salem 1. LOB -- Wilmington 8, Salem 5. 2B -- Correll (6), Bianchi (20), Mena (6). 3B -- Parraz (3). CS -- Dyson (9), Van Ostrand (3).

IP H R ER BB SO

Wilmington

Santiago 4 6 2 2 1 1

Haltiwanger W, 3-1 2 2-3 1 0 0 1 0

Chavez 1 1-3 0 0 0 0 0

Chambliss S, 16 1 1 0 0 1 0

Salem

Bass 6 5 2 2 3 3 Appell L, 1-2 2-3 0 1 1 2 0

Dominguez 1 2 0 0 0 0

Qualben 2-3 1 0 0 0 2

Diaz 2-3 0 0 0 0 0

WP--Bass. Umpires -- Home: Segal; Bases: Soucy.

T -- 2:39. A -- 4,114.