FIRST 3-GAME DIVISION SERIES OF 2022 IS UNDERWAY
The Frontier League saw its first three-game division series played for the 2022 season.
Washington vs Florence
The Washington Wild Things (10-6) defeated the Florence Y'alls (4-11) on Tuesday in a close game ending 8-7.
The Washington Wild Things scored four runs in the first inning thanks to Wagner Lagrange who earned his 14th and 15th RBI of the season with a two-run double that made it 2-0 Wild Things before Lagrange's spot at second was taken on a bullet to the right-center field gap by Andrew Czech. Czech's double made it 3-0 and Czech scored on a ground ball single through the right side by Hector Roa. In the top of the seventh, Scotty Dubrule singled through a drawn-in infield to make it 5-3 Washington and then stole second, allowing Nick Ward to take home on the same double steal to push the lead to three.
The Y'alls would only score in the third and eighth innings but in big ways. In the third inning Joe Lytle would hit a three-run home run to cut the lead down 4-3. A.J. Bumpass would help the Y'alls narrowly come back in the eighth inning with a grand slam to make the score 8-7 but it wouldn't be enough to take down the Wild Things.
Edgar Martinez took his second loss of the year pitching four innings and allowing five hits, four earned runs while walking three and striking out four batters. Kent Kyleman, Grant Hockin and Evan Brabrand would pitch in relief.
Sandro Cabrera earned his second win of the season and went six and two-thirds innings allowing eight hits, three earned runs, while striking out four batters. Dan Kubiuk, Christian James and Lukas Young would pitch the rest of the game in relief. Young would earn his second save of the year pitching one and two-thirds innings allowing one hit, no runs, and striking out four batters.
Windy City vs Gateway
The Windy City Thunderbolts (9-7) defeated the Gateway Grizzlies (9-7) thanks to some late inning runs to win 2-1 Tuesday night. This would mark the sixth win in seven days for the ThunderBolts.
In the bottom of the eighth, it was Gateway who took a 1-0 lead with a two-out rally. Isaac Benard singled to start the rally, and Jose Rosario walked to put two runners on base. Jay Prather then hit a soft ground ball to Windy City's first baseman Peyton Isaacson, whose throw to first base went off the glove of the covering pitcher Justin Miller for an error, bringing in pinch-runner Cam Touchette with the game's first run.
In the top of the ninth the Windy City ThunderBolts, as they have for the past week, found a way to come back in the game. Brynn Martinez worked a leadoff walk followed by Jairus Richards two-run home run to right field to give Windy City a 2-1 lead. The Grizzlies in the bottom of the inning managed to get the tying run on the bases but couldn't finish the comeback.
The first seven-and-a-half innings of the ballgame featured scoreless frames for both teams in a true pitchers' duel between Brendan Feldmann and Kenny Mathews.
Matthews went six and two-thirds innings allowing five hits, no runs or walks while striking out six batters. Brayden Bonner and Justin Miller would pitch in relief. Miller would earn his second win of the season finishing the game with one and one-thirds innings pitched, allowing no hits, no runs, one walk and one strike out.
Feldmann pitched a quality start but would take a tough first season loss in the outting. He would pitch eight innings allowing five hits, two earned runs, one walk, and sitting down 10 batters by strike out. Reed Hays would come in relief in the ninth inning and allowed one hit, one walk and struck out three batters.
Schaumburg vs Joliet
The Schaumburg Boomers (11-5) defeated the Joliet Slammers (7-10) in a ninth inning comeback on Tuesday night with a final score of 10-7.
The Boomers scored early and often through the first four innings. Alec Craig would start the game with a lead off home run and two batters after Braxton Davidson would hit his eighth home run of the year making the score 3-0 after one inning. Chase Dawson would hit an RBI single to make it 4-0 in the second inning and then would hit an RBI groundout to second base in the top of the fourth inning to make it 5-0.
Joliet would score in the bottom of the fourth inning to start their 5-0 comeback thanks to Luke Mangieri's two-run home run to make it 5-2. In the bottom of the sixth inning Scott Holzwasser would hit a solo home run to center field to cut the score to 5-3. Mangieri would continue to rake in RBIs with an RBI single followed by a 3 RBI double by Tyler Depreta-Johnson to make it 7-5.
The Boomers would earn a run back in the eighth inning on a walk pitch. In the ninth inning the Boomers found a way to put more runs on the board. Brett Milazzo hit a three run double down the left field line to take a 9-7 lead over the Slammers. William Salas added the final nail in the coffin with an RBI single to make it 10-7.
Alec Thomas started the game for the Slammers and took his first loss of the season after throwing five and two-thirds innings pitches allowing seven hits, five earned runs, walking four and striking out four. Chandler Brierley, Kaleb Honea and Chris Roycroft came in relief.
Blake Stelzer started for the Boomers and received a no-decision. He threw five innings, allowing seven hits, six earned runs, two walks and struck out six batters. Michal Slaten, Aaron Gliuckstein, Kristian Scott and Darrell Thompson would pitch in relief. Scott would earn his first win of the season after throwing one inning and striking out two batters. Thompson would earn his first save of the season after throwing one inning and striking out one batter.
Lake Erie Crushers vs Evansville
The Evansville Otters (8-8) defeated the Lake Erie Crushers (8-8) on Tuesday afternoon with a final score of 7-3. This would end Lake Erie's three game winning streak.
The Otters would rely heavily on Steven Sensley as he was a part of nearly every scoring opportunity for Evansville. He would hit two home runs on the day and score four of their seven runs.
The Crushers would score in the fourth, seventh and ninth innings. In the fourth inning J. Valera would hit a home run to left field to put the grapes on the board. In the seventh, K. Irizarry would hit an RBI single. In the ninth, B. Flete would hit an RBI double but it wouldn't be nearly enough to defeat the Otters.
Crushers' starter Julio Vivas would take his second loss of the season after pitching five innings, allowing three hits, two earned runs, while walking four and striking four out. Jacob Gilliand, Kenny Wills, Gleyvin Peneda and Chris Mutter would pitch in relief.
The Otters' starter, Parker Brahms, would earn his second victory of the season. He pitched six innings allowing three hits, one earned run, while walking two and striking out five batters.
Trois-Rivières vs Jackals
The Trois-Rivières Aigles (8-8) defeated the New Jersey Jackals (6-9) by a score of 12- 4.
The Aigles got off to a red-hot start to the game, scoring 11 unanswered runs in the first through fifth innings, including three innings in a row of three runs. Right fielder Steve Brown continued to mash baseballs for the Canadian side, going three for five on the day with a pair of doubles, a home run, and a team-leading four RBI. Joe Campagna also joined the three-hit club, and scored three runs along the way.
Though they scored just four runs, the Jackals did so in a loud way, with three solo shots including a pair off the bat of newcomer George Bell Jr. The second Bell home run was immediately preceded by catcher Jason Agresti's first dinger of the season, giving New Jersey back-to-back home runs to put the home crowd on their feet.
Jared Milch picked up his second loss of the season, going 3.2 innings in his third start of the young season. Pitching in relief later in the game was Nicholas Marcon, who joined the team during the Washington series, spinning a scoreless frame in his lone road appearance back on Sunday. He then followed that up today with a pair of perfect innings against a potent Trois-Rivieres lineup.
As for the Aigles arms, two-way phenom David Gauthier had a no-hitter going until the bottom of the sixth inning, where he lost not only that bid, but the shutout as well on Bell's first moonshot. Gauthier ended with a final line of seven innings pitched, surrendering four runs, all earned, on five hits, three walks and five strikeouts.
Tri-City vs Sussex County
The Tri-City ValleyCats (9-6) defeated the Sussex County Miners (9-8) by a score of 7-5 on Tuesday night.
Offense was the name of the game in the top half of the first inning, as the Miners started the game off with a 3-run first inning on an RBI single from Spencer Griffin,and Cito Culver drove a 2 RBI double to left center field to give Sussex County a 3-0 lead.
The 'Cats would come clawing back in their first turn at bat. Jesus Lujano led the inning off with a towering blast over the wall in left field. Brantley Bell and Juan Silverio would reach base after the Lujano homer with Denis Phipps taking a pitch off the leg to load the bases for Pavin Parks. The 'Cats shortstop plated two with a broken bat single. Carson McCusker followed Parks with an RBI single of his own, giving Tri-City the 4-3 lead after just one inning.
Juan Santana would send a Ivan Pineyro fastball over the ValleyCats bullpen to give Tri-City a 5-3 lead. The Miner's starter would quiet the bats for the next few innings, keeping the score at 5-4 until the sixth inning.
Olbis Parra silenced the Miners bats after the first inning, retiring the nine of the next 12 batters he would face. The right hander would finish with 10 strikeouts over 5.2 innings of work.
Sussex County would get a run back in the top half of the fourth inning, off a seeing eye single off the bat of Neelo Rijo that kicked off of the second base bag, allowing Errol Robinson to score from second base.
ValleyCats all-time home run leader Denis Phipps would add to his career total, sending a missile over the left field wall, giving the lead back to Tri-City by the score of 6-4. Phipps takes sole possession of first place for the team lead in homers, tallying his fifth of the season tonight.
Tri-City would add their seventh run of the night on Pavin Parks' second RBI single of the game, as Brantley Bell came around to score.
Trey Cochran-Gill came in with two outs in the eighth inning to try to limit the Miners to just one run in the frame. Cochran-Gill struck out Henry Fullerton to keep the 'Cats lead at two.
The ValleyCats closer would come out for the top of the ninth inning, and worked himself into a bases loaded, one out jam. Cochran-Gill was able to put the Miners away on a 4-6-3 double play ball off the bat of Marten Pauwels to end the game.
Ottawa vs New York
The Ottawa Titans(10-6) defeated the New York Boulders(7-10) by a score of 12-8 Tuesday night.
In the top of the first, Boulders' starter Alex Mack's errant pickoff at first base allowed Urbaez to score from third. Later in the inning, with two runners aboard, Brendon Dadson hit a three-run home run to right field to give Ottawa a 4-0 advantage. The home run was Dadson's third of the season.
The Boulders got one in the first on Tucker Nathans' league-leading eighth home run of the season, two in the second on MacKenzie's second homer of the year, then one in the fourth on Kwitzer's RBI single that knotted the game at 4-4 after four innings.
Ottawa moved back ahead at 5-4 in the fifth when A.J. Wright led off with a double, advanced to third on a Sanford groundout and scored on a Mack wild pitch.
In the home sixth, Kwitzer's two-out double scored Garcia, who singled leading off the frame.
Clay Fisher's sacrifice fly scored Sanford with the tying run before Ty Greene's double plated Dadson with the lead run.
Ottawa had pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning to snap a 5-5 tie, taking advantage of four free passes issued by Boulders' pitchers. With the bases loaded, Jacob Sanford hit into a fielder's choice that scored Urbaez. Then, three batters later, Ty Greene walked with the bases loaded to force in Rodrigo Orozco.
With the Boulders trailing 7-5 in the eighth, Titans' reliever Grant Larson surrendered singles to Gabriel Garcia and Jake MacKenzie around a booted ground ball by second baseman Jackie Urbaez off the bat of Max Smith to load the bases. Larson then uncorked a wild pitch that scored Garcia. Chris Kwitzer, with runners on second and third, then laced a single uo the middle to plate Smith with the tying run and MacKenzie with the lead run. The hit was Kwitzer's third of the night and his third and fourth RBI of the evening.
Jacob Sanford opened the Ottawa ninth against New York closer Leo Pineda with a single. After a Pineda wild pitch advanced Greene to third, a Will Zimmerman sacrifice fly scored Greene and increased the Titans' lead to 10-8. After Jacob Talamante walked, Jackie Urbaez smacked his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to right, that pushed the Ottawa advantage to 12-8.
Larson got the win to improve to 2-0 on the season, while Kevin Escorcia notched his fifth save of the season by tossing a scoreless ninth. Pineda fell to 1-2 on the year with the loss.
Empire State vs Québec
The Québec Capitales (13-3) defeated the Empire State Greys (0-16) by a score of 8-1 on Tuesday night. The Capitales got on the board early, scoring in the first inning starting with a triple off of Jeffry Parra to score Josh Mcadams.
The Capitales would score three more runs in the first before retiring the inning. Québec would add one more run in the third. The Greys would finally get on the board and score their one and only run of the game in the fourth inning with an RBI single from Tyler Hill to score Holloman.
The Capitales would finish out their scoring in the seventh by tacking on more runs with a three-run homerun from David Glaude to make the score 8-1, ultimately leading to their win.
