HIGH SCORING GAMES AROUND THE LEAGUE AS OTTAWA MAKES IT NINE STRAIGHT

New York vs New Jersey 

The New Jersey Jackals (10-13) defeated the New York Boulders (12-14) by a score of 16-14 Saturday night. 

After a tough loss at home, the New Jersey Jackals decided to mix things up and donned their Jersey WiseGuys uniforms for a Saturday night tilt with the New York Boulders. Jersey was celebrating Italian Heritage Night at Yogi Berra Stadium, and put on quite the show on the field in front of a season-high crowd. 

The contest started off innocently enough, with a first inning consisting of a pair of runs from New York and a scoreless half from the home side. But that proved to be the calm before the storm. 

The WiseGuys kicked off their offensive barrage in the second inning, tallying nine runs in a frame where every batter reached base and scored before the first out was recorded. A third of the runs were generated on one swing of the bat, with Alfredo Marte whacking a ball to deep left never to be seen again. The power-hitting left fielder finished the contest 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored and three RBI. 

Todd Isaacs extended his hitting streak to eight games, with a 3-for-5 affair, notching his fourth multi-hit game during that stretch. In all, six WiseGuys had multiple hits and five drove in at least two runs during one of the best offensive games of the season. Additionally, Jason Agresti continued to add to a spectacular start to the year, notching a pair of doubles to increase his average to .367.

It wasn't a leisurely strut through the game though, as the Boulders gave as good as they got, scoring 12 runs between the fifth and eighth inning. The star of the show was leadoff man David Vinsky, whose 4-for-5 game included a home run, three runs scored, and — for the second night in a row — four RBI. New York also got a solid outing from the back end of their bullpen, with Ben Strahm and Dan Goggin combining for four innings of scoreless ball, striking out five WiseGuys in the process.

Sussex County vs Trois-Rivières  

The Sussex County Miners (13-14) defeated the Trois-Rivières Aigles (10-13) by a score of 17-1 on Saturday night.  

The Miners unloaded in runs by getting the scoring started in the first inning. 

There were RBIs to go around, with Jawaun Harris, Carson McCurdy, David Maberry, Errol Robinson, Kevin Rolon, Martin Figueroa, and Cito Culver all having runs batted in between homers, singles, doubles, walks and sacrifices.  

The only Aigle run would be in the seventh when Joe Campagna had an RBI groundout. John Baker got the win for the Miners while Carlo Graffeo got charged with the loss. 

Empire State vs Ottawa

The Ottawa Titans (18-6) defeated the Empire State Greys (0-25) by a score of 13-0 Saturday night. 

Jacob Sanford was the star of the night with tieing a record of having 10 RBIs in a game. 

Sanford hit two home runs, walked, hit a single and a triple. 

The Titans got on the board in the first inning and never looked back from there.  

The only runs not batted in by Sanford were in the seventh by Brendon Dadson and in the eighth by Jason Dicochea.  

Jose Taveras got the win for Ottawa while Rodriguez got charged with the loss for the Greys. 

Quebec vs Tri-City  

The Quebec Capitales (21-4) defeated the Tri-City ValleyCats (13-12) by a score of 3-0.  

ValleyCats starter Olbis Parra and Capitales starter Michael Austin were on top of their game, with both pitchers setting down their opposition 1-2-3 in the first inning.

Quebec would start the second inning with back to back singles on back to back pitches from Jack McAdams and Garrett Takamatsu, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Jonathan Lacroix would lay down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position with one out. Marc-Antione Lebreaux would ground out to Brantley Bell for the second out of the inning, but McAdams would come in to score from third, giving the Capitales the 1-0 lead.

After a Denis Phipps strikeout and a Juan Silverio ground out, Pavin Parks would earn a two out walk. Carson McCusker would dig out an infield single, and Jonah Girand would walk to load the bases for Danny Angulo. The 'Cats designated hitter would ground out to David Glaude, to put an end to Tri-Cities best threat of the night.

Olbis Parra would only allow one other hit after the second inning, surrendering a sixth inning single to Glaude. Parra would finish the night with seven strikeouts. After a lead off walk from Takamatsu, Parra would be replaced by Hunter Swift. Swift would give up a double to Lacoix, but would get Lebreaux to ground out to Juan Santana at first.

Trey Cochran-Gill would come in for Swift, and following an intentional walk to Pedro Gonzalez, Capitales catcher Reece Yeargain would ground into a fielder's choice to plate Takamatsu. Cochran-Gill would get Glaude to fly out to limit the damage to just one run.

Quebec would add to their lead to make it 3-0 in the top of the eighth inning, on a Garrett Takamatsu sacrifice fly that plated TJ White. The 'Cats would be set down in order in the home half of the eighth inning. 

After Oddy Nunez was pulled with one out in the top half of the ninth inning, Tom Incaviglia would call upon Eric Ezersky to make his ValleyCats debut. He would walk Pedro Gonzalez, but would strike out both Reece Yeargain and David Glaude to retire the side. 

Brantly Bell and Ciaran Devenney would walk to lead off the bottom of the ninth against Capitales closer Samuel Adames. The right hander would get Juan Silverio to ground out into a double for two quick outs. Pavin Parks would strike out for the final out of the game.

Windy City vs Florence

The Florence Y'alls (8-17) defeated the Windy City Thunderbolts (13-12) by a score of 10-6 on Saturday night. 

Florence's bats, who put up nine runs on eleven hits in yesterday's defeat, had an even better outing tonight. The Y'alls recorded a hit in every inning, and had every batter pick up at least one hit. Harrison DiNicola, Brennan Price, and AJ Bumpass each came through with three-hit nights.

Price notched his team-best seventh home run of the season tonight, a 421-foot shot to right field. Joe Lytle also homered, going deep against his former team in Windy City. 

A crowd of 2,200 watched the Y'alls end their four-game losing streak, and do it on Nickelodeon night at the ballpark. Florence wore specialty Nickelodeon-themed jerseys, featuring various cartoon characters and the iconic Nickelodeon slime logo. 

The bats hopped on Windy City's pitching early in the contest, and allowed Yasel Santana to breathe comfortably throughout his start. The former Red Sox farmhand went 4.1 innings, allowing no runs on three hits. A combination of five relief pitchers finished the game, with Karl Craigie earning the win. Windy City's Tyler Thornton gets the loss.

This is the fifth time Florence has outputted double-digit runs this season, as they continue to prove themselves as a premier offensive team in the Frontier League. The Y'alls are top-five in most offensive categories, including batting average, runs, hits, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.

Schaumburg vs Washington

The Schaumburg Boomers (14-11) defeated the Washington Wild Things (16-10) by a score of 8-4 Saturday night. 

Washington opened the scoring with two outs in the bottom of the first. Matt Bottcher instantly tied the game with his fifth homer of the season in the second. Thomas DeBonville put the Boomers ahead with an RBI single with two outs, scoring Clint Hardy with the go-ahead run. Alec Craig roped a two-run double and William Salas stroked a three-run homer in the frame. Washington scored a single run in the bottom of the second. Benches cleared in the sixth and Andrew Czech logged a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning. Schaumburg scored an insurance run in the seventh on an RBI single from Bottcher.

Erik Martinez threw five innings to grab the win, his first as a starter. Four relievers combined to finish the contest. DeBonville finished with three hits with Bottcher tallying a pair.

Joliet vs Lake Erie 

The Joliet Slammers (15-12) defeated the Lake Erie Crushers (10-16) by a score of 4-2 on Saturday night.  

For the Crushers the loss was their fourth straight, with all four games being decided by two runs or less. The victory for the Slammers was their sixth in a row. 

While there weren't many runs scored, the action was fast and furious in the first inning. Kyle Jacobsen began the game with a double into the right field corner, and came around to score the game's first run on Scott Holzwasse's RBI single. 

Lake Erie plated their only two runs with two outs in the bottom of the third. Alonzo Jones was able to draw a two out walk and he scored moments later on Kenen Irizarry's RBI double to the gap in right center. Jackson Valera followed with a run-scoring single to right which plated Irizarry to give the Crushers a 2-1 lead. 

Joliet was able to tie the game in the top of the sixth. Jacobsen started the inning with a single to right and scored on a two out double from Brylie Ware to tie the game at 2-2. 

The Slammers took the lead for good in the top of the seventh when Phillip Steering hit a solo homer to left, his fifth of the season. They added one last run in the top of the ninth when Steering scored on a wild pitch. 

The pitching was terrific once again. Julio Vivas didn't factor into the decision, but he allowed just two runs on five hits while striking out three batters over six strong innings. Tanner Kiest (1-0) picked up the win for Joliet after tossing three scoreless innings of no hit relief. Chandler Brierley (2) scored the save after tossing a scoreless ninth inning. Ean Walda (0-2) suffered the loss for the Crushers after allowing a run on one hit over one inning in relief. 

Irizarry and Valera paced the Crushers offensively at the top of the order with two hits each. Connor Owings didn't have any hits but he walked three times. Rodney Tennie went 1-for-3 with a walk and has now hit safely in five straight games and he's reached safely in his last eight. 

Gateway vs Evansville 

The Evansville Otters (16-10) defeated the Gateway Grizzlies (13-13) by a score of 6-3 Saturday night. 

The Gateway Grizzlies scored three runs in the top of the first inning, but watched as the Evansville Otters came all the way back, going ahead on a two-out, two-strike home run in the sixth inning by Zach Biermann in a 6-3 decision at Bosse Field on Saturday night. 

The game began perfectly for the Grizzlies in the first inning- Isaac Benard doubled with one out and Trevor Achenbach singled before Peter Zimmermann's sacrifice fly made it 1-0 Gateway. Two batters later, Clint Freeman clubbed a two-run home run with two outs off Otters starter Jacob Bowles for a 3-0 advantage. 

But Evansville would come back, scoring two runs in the second inning and one in the third inning to make the score 3-3. Thanks to J.P. Williams (2-2), the game would remain tied as the right-hander worked into the sixth inning and struck out six to keep the Grizzlies in the game against Bowles and the Otters' bullpen. 

In the top of the sixth, Freeman singled, went to second base on a wild pitch, and then third on a ground ball, putting the lead run 90 feet away with only one out. But Gateway could not bring in that run, and in the bottom of the frame with two outs and the bases empty, Andy Armstrong and Gary Mattis singled to chase Williams from the game. Biermann then hit a 2-2 pitch from Andrew Cartier over the right-center field wall for the go-ahead, three-run homer, putting the Otters ahead to stay as they claimed the series win.