QUEBEC AND EVANSVILLE EARN SERIES SWEEPS
Washington vs Florence
The Washington Wild Things (11-7) defeated the Florence Y'alls (5-12) at Thomas Moore Stadium 6-3 on Thursday afternoon. The Wild Things won the series two games to one. The Y'alls scored first in the bottom of the first inning with Craig Massey hitting a leadoff home run (3) to give Florence an early 1-0 lead. The Wild Things would answer back in the fourth inning with an equalizer of their own. The hot bat of Nick Ward would tie the game with a home run of his own (8) making it 1-1. Ward currently leads the league in batting average (.466) and RBIs (23).
The Wild Things would take the lead in the fifth inning thanks to Ian Walters RBI single and Scotty Dubrule's RBI groundout to make the game 3-1. Walter's night wouldn't end there. In the top of the sixth inning Walters hit a three run homer (5) to give the Wild Things a 6-1 lead.
The Y'alls would answer in the bottom of the sixth inning with a two run homer by Alberti Chavez (3) to make it 6-3. Unfortunately for Florence, that is all the failed comeback would yield.
Yasel Santana (1-1, 5.56) started for the Florence Y'alls and would take the loss. He lasted five innings, allowed nine hits, six earned runs, walked one batter and struck out four. Grant Hockin and Karl Craigie would pitch in relief.
Hayden Pearce (3-0, 3.24) started for the Washington Wild Things and earned the win. He would go seven innings, allowing five hits, three earned runs, walk one batter and strike out nine. Kenny Pierson and Lukas Young (3) would come in relief. Young earned the save.
The Wild Things are now tied for first in the West division after the Schaumburg Boomers lost to the Joliet Slammers.
Schaumburg vs Joliet
The Joliet Slammers (9-10) defeated the Schaumburg Boomers (11-7) at Duly Health & Care Field 3-2 on Thursday night. The Joliet Slammers won The Metra Series two games to one.
The Boomers scored in the top of the first with Chase Dawson hitting an RBI triple to give them a 1-0 lead. Dawson hit six triples in the month of May, this is his first in the month of June.
Joliet would tie the game in the bottom of the third on a wild pitch and then take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Carson Maxwell. Schaumburg would tie the game 2-2 in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI double to left center field by Matt Botcher. Joliet took the decisive 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth on a walk with the bases loaded.
Shumpei Yoshikawa (2-1, 5.40) started for the Boomers and took the loss. He lasted five and one-thirds innings allowing five hits, three earned runs, walked one batter and struck out four. Michael Slaten, Kristian Scott and Darrell Thompson came in relief.
Cole Cook (3-1, 1.90) started for the Slammers and took the win. He lasted six innings allowing two hits, two earned runs, walked three batters and struck out six. Chandler Brierley, Chris Roycroft and Jared Leibelt came in relief. Liebelt (1) earned the save.
Lake Erie vs Evansville
The Evansville Otters (10-8) defeated the Lake Erie Crushers (8-10) at Bosse Field 5-3 on Thursday night. The Otters swept the Crushers in the three game series.
Evansville scored first in the bottom of the second inning on a two RBI single by Miles Gordon to take a 2-0 lead. The Otters scored two more times in the bottom of the third inning on a J.R. Davis (3) home run to left field and a fielding error by the Crushers second baseman, Bryant Flete, to take a 4-0 lead. In the bottom of the seventh inning Jeffery Baez hit an RBI single to right field to secure the final run that the Otters would score in the game.
The Crushers would save all their runs until the last inning on a three-run homer by Jared Mang (1) to cut the lead down to 5-3. The Crushers wouldn't be able to gather any more runs for a successful comeback.
Lake Erie's starter, Brock Begue (0-1, 7.36) took the loss and lasted six innings. He allowed seven hits, four runs, three earned, walked three batters and struck out six. Jacob Gilliland and Sam Curtis came in relief.
Evansville's starter, Tim Holdgrafer (2-0, 0.67) took the win. He lasted eight innings, allowing two hits, no runs, two walks and struck out 10 batters. Holdgrafer leads the Frontier League in ERA and strikeouts (34).
Windy City vs Gateway
The Gateway Grizzlies (10-8) defeated the Windy City ThunderBolts (10-8) at GCS Ballpark 5-3 on Thursday night. The Windy City ThunderBolts won the series two games to one. This game marks the 189th all-time meeting between these two teams.
The Grizzlies scored in the bottom of the first on an RBI double by Clint Freeman to make it 1-0. The Grizzlies would tack on two more runs on a solo home run by Jose Rosario (2) and an RBI sac fly by Trevor Achenbach to open the lead to 3-0.
Windy City would score in the top of the third on an RBI groundout by Nikola Vasic. Gateway would answer in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single by Cam Touchette to make it 4-1.
The ThunderBolts would make it close in the top of the fifth as they have done so well in the last week. A two RBI single by Daryl Myers would close the gap to 4-3. It seemed that the Bolts would come back, however, the Grizzlies put one more insurance run on the board in the bottom of the fifth on a passed ball making it 5-3.
Windy City's starter, Bryan Ketchie (1-1, 3.28), lasted five and two-thirds innings and allowed nine hits, five runs, three earned, no walks and struck out five batters. Sebastian Selway and Cal Djuraskovic came in relief. This marked Djuraskovic's first appearance of the 2022 season.
Gateway's starter, Clint Freeman (0-0, 3.0), received a no-decision. He lasted three innings allowing four hits, one earned run, no walks and striking out three batters. Matt Mulhearn, Taylor Sugg, John Murphy and Reed Hayes came in relief. Sugg earned the win (2-0, 1.42) throwing two innings, allowing no hits, runs, walks and struck out one batter. Hayes (2) earned the save throwing one inning allowing no hits, runs, walks and struck out two batters.
The ThunderBolts have been on a hot streak winning their last three series against the Sussex County Miners, New York Boulders and now the Grizzlies. They have won seven of their last nine games.
The Gateway Grizzlies, on the other hand, have lost seven of their last eight games before today's victory. Six of those losses were due to opposing teams scoring the go-ahead or walkoff run in the top or bottom of the ninth or extra innings. This comes after their 8-1 run to start the 2022 season. Today's victory is hopefully a turning point for the team.
Sussex County vs Tri-City
The Sussex County Miners (9-9) and Tri-City ValleyCats (10-6) split a doubleheader on Thursday night. The ValleyCats took the first game by a score of 10-4 and the Miners took the second game by a score of 6-2.
In Game 1, ValleyCats starting pitcher Joey Gonzalez kept the Miners bats at bay in the top half of the first inning, surrendering just a single to Mikey Reynolds to lead off the game. For the ValleyCats, their bats were nothing but silent.
'Cats second baseman Juan Silverio blasted his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot to get Tri-City on the board. Brantley Bell would follow Silverio with a double off the top of the wall in left field, eventually scoring on a ground ball the Miners shortstop couldn't handle.
Sussex County's offense remained dormant throughout the first three innings, as Gonzalez struck out six of the next seven batters he faced. Following a bloop single to left field for Pavin Parks, Willy Garcia would extend the lead to 7-0 with a two run shot of his own.
Bell would come back up to lead off the home half of the third inning, bringing Juan Silverio up to the plate. The ValleyCats third baseman launched a two- run shot into right centerfield, his fifth of the season. Brad Zunica would follow in Silverio's footsteps, blasting a 446 foot home onto the second level of the berm in right center.
The 'Cats would ultimately bat around in the home half of the third inning, as Bell would follow Silverio and Lujano by reaching base, loading the bases for Juan Silverio, who lined out to end the inning.
Spencer Griffin would get Sussex County on the board with an RBI double that plated Cito Culver. Carson McCurdy would hit a scorching double off the wall in right field to bring Griffin around the score, trimming the lead to 7-2. The Miners would continue to chip away at the lead, with a solo shot off the bat of Jawuan Harris. Following an Errol Robinson single, Pete Incaviglia would call on Adam Hofacket, who would force Martin Figueroa to fly out and the 'Cats were able to double up Robinson on a base running blunder.
The 'Cats would come right back in the home half of the fourth inning with three runs of their own, with back-to-back RBI doubles from Juan Santana and Brantley Bell, bringing Girand Lujano and Santana around to score.
Alexander Guillen would enter in the top of the sixth inning, and worked around a Cito Culver lead off walk to retire the next three batters he faced. Dariel Fernandez would enter from the Miners bullpen, and retire the side in the home half of the sixth inning.
Aneudy Acosta would come in to shut the door on the Miners, who would score a run on a Mikey Reynolds ground out.
In Game 2, Jose Cruz took the hill for the 'Cats in what would be a short appearance, surrendering 4 runs in under 2 innings of work before Troy Cruz entered the game in relief.
Sussex County starter Conner Dand would turn in a complete game effort, surrendering just two runs, 1 on a Willy Garcia sacrifice fly and 1 on a Sussex County error, earning the win in the series finale.
Despite the loss in game 2 of today's twin bill, the 'Cats secured a series win against their rivals from Sussex County in their first divisional series of the year. At the end of the double dip at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, the ValleyCats had successfully leap-frogged the Miners, jumping into the third place spot in the Frontier League's East Division.
Empire State vs Quebec
The Quebec Capitales (15-3) defeated the Empire State Greys (0-18) by a score of 3-1 on Thursday night.
The Greys got on the board first in the second inning when Franklin Parra walked Mercado to walk in a run for Empire State.
The Capitales would tie up the game in the fifth when Marc-Antoine Lebreux hit an RBI double down the left field line to score Kyle Crowl.
Quebec would get ahead in the seventh when Pedro Gonzalez hit a single RBI up the middle to score Crowl.
The Capitales would tack on their final run in the game in the eighth when T.J. White reached first on an error which helped score David Glaude.
Moscatiel got the winning decision for Quebec and Jason Pineda got charged with the loss for the Greys.
Postponed Games
Ottawa vs New York
The Ottawa Titans (11-6) and New York Boulders (7-11) game got postponed due to rain. The game will be made up as a single admission doubleheader on July 1st at 4:30 p.m.
Trois-Rivières vs New Jersey
The Trois-Rivières Aigles (8-8) and New Jersey Jackals (6-9) game got postponed due to rain. These games will be made up in July.
