LAKE ERIE COMPLETES SWEEP AS THEY PUSH WINNING STREAK TO THREE

Evansville vs Lake Erie

The Lake Erie Crushers (17-22) completed their second sweep of the season on Sunday afternoon at Mercy Health Stadium, as they won in walk off fashion in a 3-2 victory in 10 innings over the Evansville Otters (22-16). 

The win for the Crushers marks their second sweep of the season, while the loss for Evansville was their fifth in their last six games. 

The pitching was fantastic on both sides. Matt Mulhearn started for the Crushers and allowed a run on five hits over six innings while striking out eight batters. Parker Brahms was terrific as well for Evansville, fanning 7 of the first 11 batters he faced. He allowed just a run on five hits over seven innings and struck out 12. 

Evansville scored the first in the top of the fourth inning. Elijah MacNamee started the inning with a double and came around to score on J.R. Davis's sacrifice fly. 

Lake Erie tied the game in the top of the seventh. Kokko Figueiredo began the inning with a walk and scored on Sean Cheely's two out RBI single to center. 

The Otters responded quickly with a run in the top of the eighth. Jeffrey Baez was hit by a pitch at the start of the inning and came around to score on Dakota Phillips's sacrifice fly. 

The Crushers tied things up in the bottom of the eighth. Jackson Valera had four hits on the night, and his third was a solo homer to left, his fourth of the year, tying the game at 2-2.  

In the top of the 10th, Sam Curtis (2-1) kept the Otters off the board. He retired Baez on a groundout and then induced an inning ending 5-4-3 double play. 

Valera struck again for the Crushers in the bottom of the 10th. Austin White started the rally with a bunt base hit to put runners at the corners. After Kenen Irizarry popped out, Valera lined Logan Sawyer's (0-1) 0-2 pitch into right field for the game winning single to score Cheely from third. 

Curtis picked up the victory after tossing a scoreless 10th inning and Sawyer took the loss. The run he surrendered in the 10th inning was the first he's allowed this season in 14 appearances.

Valera led the Crushers offensively, going 4-for-5 with three base hits and a solo homer. White turned in a multi-hit game as well, going 2-for-5 with a pair of singles. Cheely's single in the seventh inning extended his on base streak to eight games. 

Empire State vs Tri-City

The Tri-City ValleyCats(19-19) and Empire State Greys(1-36) wrapped up their three game weekend series at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Leo Crawford made the start for Tri-City on Sunday, while the Greys sent Jordan Powell to the mound.

The first two innings for Crawford were almost flawless, only giving up two hits to the Greys offense over that span. The 'Cats offense would get rolling in the bottom half of the second inning. Denis Phipps would lead the inning off with a double, bringing Willy Garcia to the plate. The ValleyCats right fielder would launch a two-run shot into deep center field for the first two runs of the afternoon. Following a Juan Silverio single, Jonah Girand launched a home run of his own off of Powell to make it a 4-0.

The only run of the game for the Greys would come on a Trey Woosley single in the top of the third inning, plating Jose Mercado who started the inning off with a single and stole second base.

The bottom half of the third inning, the ValleyCats offense exploded. Four home runs were launched in the inning. Brad Zunica would launch a two-run shot, bringing Denis Phipps in to score. Willy Garcia would go back to back with Zunica, adding a solo shot. The line up would flip over after Jonah Girand and Juan Silverio reached base, and Pavin Parks would unleash on a fastball from Powell, clearing the centerfield fence. Bell would launch the second back to back sequence of the inning, a solo shot off reliever Donny Speranza, the 'Cats would send 12 hitters to the plate, plating seven.

The ValleyCats would plate two more in the game, a Brad Zunica single brought Jesus Lujano around to score in the bottom of the sixth, and a Pavin Parks single plated Carson McCusker in the seventh.

Jaylen Smith and David Stiehl would take care of the Greys in the last two innings out of the bullpen, each firing a scoreless frame.

New Jersey vs Quebec

Josh McAdams led the Quebec Capitales(28-10) to their 6-5 win over the New Jersey Jackals(16-20) on Sunday afternoon in Quebec City at the Stade Canac. 

The New Jersey Jackals started scoring first in the top of the third when Santiago Chirino reached first on an error allowing Jason Agresti to score. 

Jeffry Parra would homer in the bottom of the third to even up the score and make it 1-1. 

The Capitales would get ahead in the bottom of the fifth when Guibert tripled followed up by a Josh McAdams home run to make it 4-1. 

The Jackals would tie the game in the top of the sixth with a single from Justin Wylie and Josh Rehwaldt and Nicco Toni reaching first on an error to allow Wylie to score. 

However the Capitales would get ahead again with a single from McAdams to make it 6-5 and would lead them to their win. 

Frank Moscatiello would get the win and Samuel Adams would get the save for Quebec. 

While Angelo Baez would get the loss. 

New York vs Ottawa 

The Ottawa Titans(25-11) pushed across a pair of runs in the bottom of the 10th inning and walked off with a wild 8-7 win over the visiting New York Boulders(19-20) on Sunday afternoon at Ottawa Stadium in the capital city of Canada.

Knotted at 6-6 after nine innings, the Boulders capitalized on their opportunity in the top of the 10th inning. As Giovanni Garbella was struck out by Ottawa closer Kevin Escorcia, Austin Dennis, the runner placed at second to start the frame as per the international tiebreaker, stole third.

Dennis then scored when Gian Martellini's bloop to center found the grass between a trio of Titans' defenders and put New York ahead 7-6.

Ottawa answered, though, in their half of the 10th when Jake Sanford's single plated designated runner A.J. Wright to knot the game at 7-7. After Boulders' reliever Zach Schneider induced a double play grounder from Tyrus Greene, the Titans stayed alive with a single up the middle by Taylor Wright.

Brendon Dadson followed with a groundball single up the middle that was over-run by New York centerfielder David Vinsky allowing Wright to score all the way from first base with the winning run.

How the teams got to extra innings is quite the story.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Titans were down to their final out against Schneider, but rallied, helped by successive hit by pitches to Jason DiCochea and Jackie Urbaez before Rodrigo Orozco lined a 1-2 pitch into left field for a single that scored DiCochea with run that evened the game at 6-6 and sent the game into extra innings.

Prior to that, trailing 5-3 in the eighth with two outs and no one on, the Boulders mounted a rally against Ottawa reliever Gavin Sonnier.

Martellini and Gabriel Garcia hit successive singles before Francisco Del Valle lined his third hit of the afternoon, a double to right that scored both runners to knot the game at 5-5.

After New York reliever Ryan Munoz retired the Titans in order in the bottom of the eighth, New York's Max Smith greeted Ottawa reliever Nelson Gonzalez with a home run to rightfield to put the Boulders ahead 6-5. The home run was Smith's fourth of the year.

Ottawa had grabbed a 4-3 lead on a three-run home run by DiCochea, his second of the year, in the bottom of the fifth off Boulders' starter Josh Loeschorn.

Taylor Wright drew a walk to lead off the fifth and was forced at second on a grounder to first by Brendon Dadson. A single by Will Zimmerman placed runners on first and second for DiCochea, who homered to left field – his first dinger since opening day.

In the seventh, Ottawa tacked on another run when Will Zimmerman led off against New York reliever Austin Kaplan, the Boulders' second pitcher of the day, and was hit by a pitch. DiCochea then lashed a double to left-center to plate Zimmerman with the tally that increased the Titans' advantage to 5-3.

The RBI was DiCochea's fourth of the afternoon.

New York had built a 3-0 lead through 3 ½ innings.

In the second, a Chris Kwitzer run-scoring single plated Gabriel Garcia, who had singled earlier in the inning; then, in the third, Jake MacKenzie led off with a double to right, MacKenzie ending up on third base when Ottawa rightfielder Jake Sanford threw wildly back to the infield and scored on a groundout by Austin Dennis.

It became 3-0 in the fourth. Del Valle doubled immediately before Titans' shortstop Taylor Wright threw Alphonso Reda's grounder high and past Dadson at first base, allowing Del Valle to score.

Ottawa got one run back in the fourth when A.J. Wright's triple was followed by an RBI groundout by Sanford.

Ottawa got a strong start from Evan Grills, who went seven innings and surrendered three runs on eight hits while striking out eight and not walking a batter before yielding to Sonnier to start the eighth.

Meanwhile, Loeschorn went the first five innings for New York and allowed four runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out five before being relieved by Kaplan in the sixth.

Schneider took the loss for New York, falling to 0-2 on the year; while Escorcia picked up the win in his first decision of the season.

Sussex County bs Trois-Rivières

Jawaun Harris had 5 RBIs to lead the Sussex County Miners(23-17) to their 13-3 win over the Trois-Rivières Aigles(17-19).

The Miners got on the board first with an RBI single from Harris to make it 1-0. 

The Aigles would make an error to help the Miners score three runs. 

The Miners would score one more run in the top of the first. 

The Aigles would score their only runs between the bottom of the first with an RBI single from Juan Kelly and then in the bottom of the second with Ricardo Sanchez hitting an RBI double and then eventually scoring on an error.

The Miners would continue to score eight runs between the third, fourth, fifth, and seventh inning. With Harris homering in the fifth and seventh inning to make the score 13-3 and lead Sussex County to their win. 

Michael Mediavilla would get the win for the Miners while Sam Belisle-Springer would get charged with the loss for Trois-Rivières. 

Gateway vs Florence

Anthony Brocato hit two home runs, Andres Sthormes knocked three hits, and Jared Cheek delivered his best start of the season in a 15-6 Florence Y'alls(17-20) victory over the Gateway Grizzlies(19-20).

The Y'alls (17-20) jumped on Grizzlies' starter Clint Freeman right away, plating three runs in the first inning. Florence would not lose the lead for the remainder of the game. The Y'alls added runs in four additional innings to pad the advantage.

The best batting average in the Frontier League hit above their baseball cards today. All ten batters reached base for the Y'alls, despite the Grizzlies outhitting Florence, 13-10. Four Y'alls reached at least three times in the contest. Florence is batting an outstanding .300 as a team through 37 games.

This support proved to be more than enough for veteran starter Jared Cheek. In his first start back from the injured list, the right-hander allowed only one earned run in five innings pitched. Cheek earns his first win of the season. Freeman takes the loss for Gateway.

It was not the cleanest of ball games, however. Gateway committed five errors, Florence two. This is an uncharacteristic showing from two of the league's top five fielding teams.

The bounce-back win secures a fifth consecutive series win for Florence. The Y'alls have not lost a series since Joliet swept them nearly three weeks ago. Florence is 10-3 in its last 13 games.

Joliet vs Schaumburg

The Schaumburg Boomers (16-21) homered three times, but the Joliet Slammers (21-19) scored the final five runs including two with two outs in the eighth to take two-of-three in the Metra Series with a 7-6 win on Sunday at Wintrust Field.

Joliet grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a bloop double from former Boomer Matt McGarry. Thomas DeBonville connected on a go-ahead two-run homer in the bottom of the second, the second straight game with a go-ahead RBI. Matt Bottcher doubled home two more in the third as the Boomers opened a 4-1 lead. 

Matt Burch hit a solo homer in the fourth for Joliet but Brett Milazzo and DeBonville connected on back-to-back solo homers in the bottom of the inning to extend the lead to 6-2. Joliet pulled within 6-5 by scoring twice in the fifth and once in the sixth. Kyle Jacobsen delivered the deciding swing, a two-run single with two outs in the eighth. The Boomers left the tying run in scoring position in the eighth and ninth. 

Schaumburg totaled just five hits, four of which went for extra bases. DeBonville became the first player this season to record multiple homers in a game. The fourth inning back-to-back homers marked the second occasion this year, both at home. Braxton Davidson and Bottcher hit back-to-back homers in the second inning of the home opener on May 20. Bottcher totaled a pair of hits for his 17th multi-hit showing in 32 games played. Alec Craig walked twice and extended hi on-base streak to 12 games.

Kyle Arjona worked five innings and took a no-decision. Arjona did not walk a batter and struck out five. Juan Pichardo fanned four in two innings. Jake Joyce suffered the loss and Darrell Thompson twirled the ninth. The pitching staff struck out 10 in the 18th contest with double-digit strikeouts this year.

Washington vs Windy City

Joshuan Sandoval hit two grand slams and tied a franchise record with nine RBIs as the Windy City ThunderBolts (18-19) won their second straight game to capture the series from the first-place Washington Wild Things (25-14), 14-6 at Ozinga Field Sunday afternoon.

For the third straight day, Washington took an early lead. Back-to-back doubles from Wagner Lagrange and Andrew Czech put them ahead 1-0 in the second inning.

The ThunderBolts responded in the bottom of the frame and quickly pulled away. They loaded the bases on a single, a walk and a hit by pitch before Sandoval hit his first home run of the day. The next inning, two walks and another hit by pitch brought Sandoval to the plate with the bases full again. His second homer made it an 8-1 lead. 

Control problems continued to plague the Wild Things in the fourth inning as a Jeff Heinrich double was followed by three more walks, forcing in a run.

The Bolts put the game away for good in the sixth. Jairus Richards and Peyton Isaacson each picked up RBI singles in the rally. Sandoval just missed his third home run of the game as he plunked one off the right field wall to bring home another run, his ninth of the day. 

Bryan Ketchie lasted seven innings on the mound, allowing two earned runs to pick up the win. Tom Hart walked six and allowed nine runs in 3.2 innings and took the loss.