HISTORIC NIGHT IN OTTAWA AS 3RD WEEK OF GAMES BEGIN
Sussex County vs Windy City
The Windy City Thunderbolts (4-6) defeated the Sussex County Miners (7-4) on Tuesday morning 3-1 on School Day, where children from local schools came to Ozinga Field to watch some baseball. This win ended the ThunderBolts four game losing streak while beating one of the two teams tied for first place in the East division.
The 'Bolts scored early in the bottom of the first inning thanks to Manny Garcia who hit a two RBI double down the first base line as children were chanting his name. Daryl Myers would score on that hit and contribute with an RBI single in the second inning. That is all the run support that the 'Bolts would need to stay ahead of the Miners.
Jawuan Harris would hit an RBI ground out to third as the only run the Miners could muster in the early morning game.
Miner's head coach Bobby Jones was disappointed with the lack of hitting in the game, a total of 4 hits in the game, but was particularly proud of his pitching staff this early in the season. "We have been pitching the ball very well..." Jones said, "pitching and defense have been pretty solid."
Miner's starter, Dwayne Marshall, threw six innings allowing eight hits, three earned runs and punching out six batters while taking his first loss of the season. Jimmy Boyce would come in for the final two innings where he allowed only one hit, no runs and struck out one batter.
The ThunderBolts would rely on Tyler Thornton as their starter. Thornton earned his second win of the season and threw six innings allowing four hits, one earned run with six strikeouts. Thornton has only given up two runs in three starts this season. Miguel Ausua and Layne Schnitz-Paxton would come in relief. Ausua pitched two innings and struck out three batters. Schnitz-Paxton earned his second save of the year in his one inning of work.
'Bolts head coach Brian Smith was pleased with his team's outing today but said that a lot more needed to be done moving forward. "Our losing streak is what it is, we were ultra-competitive in all those games, it's not like we weren't a hit away during that stretch" Smith said, "trying to string (hits) together, not just having one an inning, running the bases a little bit better, we'll have a better chance to score more runs as the season goes on."
Schaumburg vs Empire State
The Schaumburg Boomers (6-4) defeated the Empire State Greys (0-10) 8-2 Tuesday morning.
The Greys took an early 2-0 lead thanks to Jordan Scott's sac fly RBI and a home run to left field by Tyler Hill in the top of the third inning. That would be all the runs the Greys could put together.
The Boomers would answer with eight unanswered runs spanning from the fifth to the eighth innings. The Boomers took the lead in the bottom of the fifth thanks to an RBI single by Clint Hardy to make it 3-2.
Johsson Arias started the game for the Greys and threw four and one thirds innings allowing three hits, three runs, one earned and strike out six batters while taking his first loss of the season. Franklyn Hernandez, Holden Bernhardt, Jesus Rosario and Brandon Sattenfield would come in to pitch the rest of the game.
The Boomers starter, Jumpei Akanuma, earned his first win and pitched six innings allowing eight hits, two earned runs, and struck out four batters. Juan Pichardo, jake Joyce and Darrell Thompson would pitch in relief.
New York vs Lake Erie
The Lake Erie Crushers (5-5) shut out the New York Boulders (4-7) Tuesday night 7-0. This marked the Crushers' first win in a series opener.
The Crushers runs would come in the second and fourth innings. The Crushers scored three runs in the bottom of the second. Ermindo Escobar started the inning with a walk and came around to score on Kokko Figueiredo's RBI single to center. Jackson Valera belted a double to left to plate Jarrod Watkins and Jack Harris brought in the final run of the inning on an RBI single to left. Every Crushers batter reached first base safely.
The Boulders starting pitcher Danny Wirchansky took his first loss of the season and threw only three innings of baseball. He also allowed six hits, three earned runs and struck out two batters. Luke Dawson, Austin Kaplan and Ben Strahm would finish the game in relief.
Lake Erie Crusher and 2022 California Winter League ERA leader earned his second win of the season. He threw six innings allowing two hits, no runs and striking out seven batters. Merrick Crouse would pitch the last three innings allowing one hit and striking out four batters in his first save of the season. Sgambelluri has thrown 11 scoreless innings in his first two starts.
Evansville vs Ottawa
The Ottawa Titans (6-4) shut out the Evansville Otters (5-5) 2-0 in their home opener with the Frontier League.
The Titans would score in the first inning thanks to J. Sanford's RBI double to right field. The would score once more in the third inning thanks to A. Wright's homerun.
Evansville's starter Parker Brahms took his first loss this season throwing seven innings and allowing four hits, two earned runs and striking out one batter. Jacob Bowles would pitch the last inning allowing one hit and strike out one batter.
Ottawa's starter Evan Grills would earn his first win of the season and threw an incredible eight innings, allowing only three hits, no runs and strike out 15 batters. Kevin Escorcia would pitch in the ninth and earn his second save.
Florence vs Trois-Rivières Aigles
The Trois-Rivières Aigles (4-6) defeated the Florence Y'alls (3-6) by a score of 5-4 on Tuesday night.
Trois-Rivières scored first with an RBI single from Joe Campagna to drive in Louis-Phillippe Pelletier.Anthony Brocato, Axel Johnson, and Brennan Price all scored for the Y'alls during a three-run, four-hit rally in the top of the sixth inning. Brocato's RBI single brought Craig Massey home in the ninth. Trois-Rivieres immediately answered Florence's sixth-inning breakthrough with three runs to reclaim the lead, via a home run from Campagna, Raphael Gladu scoring on an error and a single by Dustyn Macaluso to drive in Carlos Martinez that were all charged to Y'alls starter Jared Cheek.
Both Brocato and Johnson recorded two-hit games. The Y'alls found themselves on the wrong end of a fluke in the bottom of the eighth. Raphael Gladu hit a routine line drive to right field. While moving in to track the baseball, Brocato slipped on the natural grass field. The ball struck the tip of Brocato's glove and rolled to the wall, allowing Gladu to reach third base. Gladu would score on a wild pitch during the next at-bat, a run that would prove to be the difference. Jared Cheek, who went five innings and allowed four earned runs, takes the loss for Florence. Brocato would try to help the Y'alls in the ninth by driving in Massey to make it 4-5 but ultimately, the Aigles took the win. Sam Belisle-Springer earns his third win of the year for Trois-Rivieres. Kyle Thomas picked up his third save.
Washington vs Tri-City
The Washington Wild Things (6-4) defeated the Tri-City ValleyCats (6-3) 11-2 on Tuesday night.
Washington carried the momentum from its sweep in the previous series and did not look back in this contest, as the Wild Things scored nine runs in the first two innings of the game. Right-hander Rob Whalen got the nod to start for the Wild Things and aided in a defensive clinic generating three strikeouts and only allowing two runs in seven innings pitched. Tri-City started the game with a homer by Brantley Bell in the first inning to put the Cats up 1-0.
The next frame proved to derail that hot start, with Washington's Wagner Lagrange homering to put the Things up 3-1, and two RBI coming from Cole Brannen and Nick Ward to extend that Wild Things' lead to 5-1. The home runs were far from finished. In the bottom of the second, Lagrange found himself rounding the bases again with a solo blast, and Ian Walters sent the second three-run homer of the night to straightaway center to put Washington up 9-1.
Walters knocked in two more runs with a single in the Wild Things' half of the fifth frame, extending the already distant lead to 10 runs. Tri-City showed some signs of life late in the game, with a solo blast coming off the bat of Pavin Parks, but the comeback was not to be as Washington rode out the 11-2 lead the distance of the matchup.
Joliet vs New Jersey
The Joliet Slammers(5-6) defeated the New Jersey Jackals (4-5) by a score of 6-5 on Tuesday night. The pitching matchup featured New Jersey's Leonardo Rodriguez squaring off against Joliet's Kenny Ogg. The Slammers jumped all over Rodriguez early on, posting four runs in the first inning, with Luke Mangieri reaching on an RBI fielder's choice to score the first run and then Matt McGarry had a sacrifice fly to score the second run which was then capped off by a 2-run home run by third baseman Carson Maxwell. Rodriguez ran into trouble again in the fourth as a costly error by Trevor Abrams with the bases loaded would allow two more runs to score and extended Joliet's lead to 6-0. Rodriguez would end his day with 5 innings pitched, 4 earned runs, and 7 hits. The New Jersey bullpen tossed four scoreless innings, only surrendering one hit
in the losing effort. New Jersey would struggle offensively for most of the night, only managing to scratch two runs off Ogg, both off the bat of Josh Rehwaldt, an RBI single in the fourth and a solo shot in the sixth, as the Jackals were unable to capitalize on three Joliet errors, stranding five of their first six baserunners. Joliet reliever Tanner Kiest entered the bottom of the ninth with the Slammers up 6-2 and proceeded to issue two four-pitch walks and hit a batter without recording an out before exiting. This opened the door for New Jersey to rally, as an RBI single from Edward Salcedo and a wild pitch to Todd Isaacs allowed the Jackals to crawl back to within 2 runs before an out was recorded. Santiago Chirino would tally a third run on an RBI groundout. That was as far as the rally would go, with the tying run stranded ninety feet away as the Jackals lose 6-5, which extends their losing skid to four games
Gateway vs Quebec
The Quebec Capitales (7-3) defeated the Gateway Grizzlies (8-2) by a score of 4-3 on Tuesday night. Gateway took advantage of an early Capitales miscue in the top of the first inning to take the initial lead, as Cam Touchette singled, stole second base, and went to third on an error by the shortstop on the same play before Isaac Benard brought him in with a ground ball to make it 1-0 Grizzlies. Québec would then take the lead in the bottom of the second inning on a two-run home run with two outs by Webb Little at 2-1. But J.P. Williams then bore down and got into a groove, as the rookie right-hander ended up tossing seven innings, and allowing just the two runs on three scattered hits with a career-high eight strikeouts to hold the home team in check. Meanwhile the Grizzlies came back to take the lead again. Clint Freeman smashed a solo home run leading off the top of the fifth inning to make it 2-2, and in the seventh inning, with two outs, Touchette came up and put Gateway ahead 3-2 with an automatic RBI double. That lead would hold until the ninth inning, when the Capitales would rally to tie the game on a sacrifice fly by T.J. White, sending the contest to extra innings. Gateway failed to score in the top of the tenth with the International Tiebreaker in effect, and in the bottom half, Pedro Gonzalez singled up the middle to score Jonathan Lacroix and give the Capitales the victory.
