HIGH SCORING GAMES AROUND THE LEAGUE AS TRI-CITY VS TROIS-RIVIÈRES GETS POSTPONED
Ottawa vs New Jersey
The Ottawa Titans (26-12) put the sour defeat of Tuesday's opener behind them, thumping the New Jersey Jackals(17-21) 10-5 on Wednesday to even the series at a game a piece.
Jackie Urbaez hit his first of three-homers of the night, taking Jackals starter Leo Rodriguez over the wall in left to lead off the game.
The Urbaez first-inning blast marks the first time in franchise history that the first Titans hitter of the game has launched a homer.
Before throwing a pitch, Chris Burica had an early lead, but the lefty surrendered the tying run in the bottom of the first on a Justin Wylie RBI single, scoring Dalton Combs from second.
The Jackals busted the game open in the third, with a Santiago Chirino two-out double being cashed in by a Combs RBI knock. Alfredo Marte followed things up by blasting his second homer in as many days, taking Burica over the wall in left to make it a 4-1 game.
Josh Rehwaldt gave the home side a four-run advantage, taking Burica over the batter's eye in centre for the solo homer in the fourth. The Jackals' right fielder entered play as the reigning Frontier League player of the week, where he's also recorded six homers in his last eight games.
The Titans cued the comeback with the first of nine unanswered runs, as Urbaez clobbered a Rodriguez offering to lead off the fifth inning. The no-doubt solo blast made it a 5-2 game, heading to the late innings.
In the sixth, AJ Wright started the two-out rally with a single the opposite way. As the outing came to a close, Rodriguez allowed a base hit to Rodrigo Orozco, then walked Will Zimmerman to load the bases.
The Jackals went to the bullpen for right-hander Angelo Baez, who allowed a broken-bat single to left from Urbaez, that scored a pair. Matt Feinstein followed up with a single to right, scoring the tying run.
With the offence tying the game in the top of the sixth, Burica came on for the bottom half and walked Wylie, who later advanced to third with two outs. The Titans went to the bullpen for Gavin Sonnier (win, 4-0), who got Trevor Abrams to ground out to finish the frame.
Burica left with the no-decision after going five and two-thirds, allowing five runs on six hits, walking two, while striking out six.
After tying the game in the sixth, the Titans continued the offensive rampage by taking the lead in the eighth. As Urbaez reached on a one-out walk against right-hander Jefry Valdez (loss, 0-1), Feinstein laced a double to the gap in right-centre to plate the eventual winning run. With Feinstein at second, Taylor Wright erased an 0-4 by hammering a Valdez offering over the fence in right, making it 8-5.
In the ninth, the Titans added two more for good measure with Orozco and Urbaez adding solo shots off righty Troy Cruz.
Orozco finished the game going 4-for-5, while Urbaez also went 4-for-5 with a franchise-record three homers in the game, and also added five RBI.
Empire State vs New York
Starting pitcher Andy Hammond gave New York six strong innings and the Boulders (20-21) got solo home runs from Chris Kwitzer and Giovanni Garbella before they fended off a rally by the visiting Empire State Greys (2-37) to post a 5-4 win on Wednesday at Clover Stadium in Pomona.
Hammond allowed only six hits on one run over his six innings of work. He walked just one and struck out four in picking up his third win of the year against one loss.
The Greys trailed 5-1 in the top of the eighth when they pushed across three runs too close to 5-4 and had the tying run on third base with two outs, but Boulders' reliever Leo Pineda struck out Jose Mercado to end the inning.
Ryan Munoz came on in the ninth to record the final two outs of the game to record the save for the Boulders. It was Munoz' first save of the season.
Earlier in the eighth, Khalyd Cox's two-run double closed the Greys' deficit to 5-3. Christian Naccari followed with a run-scoring groundout to make it 5-4 before Pineda shut down the threat by striking out Mercado.
Chris Kwitzer's solo home run in the second inning, his eighth homer of the season, staked the Boulders to a 1-0 lead. They doubled their advantage with a run in the third inning on an RBI single by Austin Dennis.
The Greys cut their deficit in half to 2-1 in the third inning thanks to a run-scoring groundout from Liam McArthur. However, New York answered with three runs in their half of the fourth frame, the first coming on a solo home run off the bat of Giovanni Garbella. They tacked on a pair of runs later in the inning in a sacrifice fly by David Vinsky and an RBI single by Jake MacKenzie.
Andres Rodriguez started and took the loss for the Greys. It was his first decision of the season.
Quebec vs Sussex County
David Maberry helped lead the Sussex County Miners (25-17) to their 4-2 win over the Quebec Capitales (28-12) at Skylands Stadium on Wednesday night.
Quebec got on the scoreboard first when Garrett Takamatsu grounded out to allow the first run of the game to score in the top of the third.
The Miners would tie it up in the bottom of the inning with a double from Mikey Reynolds to make the score 1-1.
Reynolds would help again in the bottom of the fifth with reaching first base on a fielder's choice to allow Ariel Sandoval to score and make it 2-1.
Jonathan Lacroix would tie the game in the top of the sixth inning for the Capitales with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-2.
The Miners would get back ahead in the bottom of the eighth with the Capitales making an error allowing Martin Figueroa to score and then Maberry would add an insurance run to make the score 4-2 and ultimately leading the Miners to the win.
Eston Stull would get the win while Robert Klinchock would get the save for the Miners while Frank Moscatiello gets charged with the loss for Quebec.
Tri-City vs Trois-Rivières
The Tri-City ValleyCats (20-19) and Trois-Rivières Aigles (17-20) game was postponed due to inclement weather. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on June 30.
Florence vs Washington
After working their way back into the win column last night, the Washington Wild Things (27-14) defeated the visiting Florence Y'alls (17-22) 12-6 in the middle game of the three-game set.
The Wild Things rode to victory on the back of two Alex Alvarez homers and 16 hits. Rob Whalen started for Washington, striking out three in seven innings pitched en route to his 8th win of the year, which leads the league.
Washington began the game strong, scoring five runs in the first two innings, with Nick Ward coming across the plate on a Wagner Lagrange RBI double, an Andrew Czech two-run homer, a solo shot by Alex Alvarez and a run-scoring single by Chris Eusay.
Alvarez would blast in two more runs in the bottom of the fourth with his second moonshot of the night, bringing the score to 7-0 Wild Things.
The Y'alls would respond with three runs in the fifth, and three more runs in the eighth, to bring the Washington lead to only one run. A flurry of Wild Things bats bringing in five runs in the bottom of the eighth would give Washington the cushion they needed to secure the win, 12-6. That five-run frame was highlighted by a two-run double for Czech and a run-scoring single for Lagrange.
Stephen Knapp made his Washington debut today, closing for the Things and striking out two in the final frame.
Schaumburg vs Lake Erie
The Schaumburg Boomers (18-21) received contributions all over the field in tallying a 13-2 win over the Lake Erie Crushers (17-24) on Wednesday night in Ohio.
Schaumburg scored a pair of runs with two outs in the first inning and never looked back. Chase Dawson stroked his 13th triple of the year as he continued his early assault on the record books, knocking home William Salas. The triple marked the first for the Boomers in seven games. Brett Milazzo singled home Dawson two batters later.
The first inning runs were more than enough for Blake Stelzer, who carried a shutout into the eighth. Stelzer allowed two hits in the first inning and then did not surrender another until the eighth. The righty retired 13 straight at one point and faced the minimum from the end of the first until the first batter of the seventh. Stelzer walked one and struck out seven in eight innings to nab his second win.
The offense continued to add to the lead, putting two more on the board in the second and one in the fifth to lead 5-0. The Boomers pulled away late, opening a 9-0 lead behind three runs in the eighth. After Kenen Irizarry broke up the shutout in the eighth, Jordan Wiley announced his presence in a big way. Wiley, who arrived at the ballpark in the sixth inning, connected on a pinch-hit grand slam in the top of the ninth, just the second in franchise history. The other belongs to Lake Erie hitting coach James Keller. Michael Slaten finished off the win.
The Boomers drew 11 walks and finished with 15 hits. Dawson finished with four hits and scored three runs. All nine members of the lineup reached base. Salas scored four runs. Alec Craig walked twice and has drawn multiple walks in five straight games while reaching base in 15 straight. Cris Ruiz walked in the eighth to extend his on-base streak to 14 while Milazzo owns a nine-game hitting streak. The wins marked the first back-to-back victories since May 29 and 31 as the Boomers won a series for the first time since taking two-of-three from Tri-City May 27-29.
Joliet vs Evansville
The Evansville Otters (24-16) played a complete team game Wednesday night, defeating the Joliet Slammers (21-21) 3-2.
The Otters jumped into the offensive categories immediately, recording three back-to-back hits to begin the game, scoring a run on both a Jeffrey Baez single and a J.R. Davis single.
The Slammers struck back in the second, scoring a single run on an error from Evansville right fielder Elijah MacNamee.
The 2-1 Otter advantage lasted to the fourth when MacNamee made up for his error with an RBI single.
Evansville held tight to the 3-1 lead until the eighth when Joliet capitalized on an RBI single from Scott Holzwasser.
Logan Sawyer picked up his second straight save in the ninth, striking out a pair of batters to help close the game. It was his league-leading 12th save and the 35th of his professional career.
The win was assigned to Brett Adcock, who struck out seven batters while giving up a single run (unearned) on three hits. It was his second straight win. Trevor Charpie took the loss, his second of the season.
With the win, Evansville claims the series win as well. This follows a pair of series losses on the road for Evansville.
Gateway vs Windy City
The Gateway Grizzlies (21-20) posted 13 runs on 13 hits offensively to out-slug the Windy City ThunderBolts (18-21) in a back-and-forth affair by a final score of 13-9 at Ozinga Field on Wednesday night, clinching the road series by winning the first two games.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the first, a popup was dropped in front of home plate for an error off the bat of Jake Boone, scoring two runs and putting Windy City in front 2-0. It was just the start of what was to come in the contest, as Gateway scored three runs in the next half-inning thanks to a two-out, two-run single by Jose Rosario with the bases loaded, with an error on Boone at third base on the same play scoring an additional run and making it 3-2 Grizzlies.
Windy City then scored three more runs in the bottom of the frame to take the lead once again, going in front on a two-run triple by Jairus Richards at 5-3. The Grizzlies would respond again, tying the game at 5-5 in the top of the third on a Clint Freeman RBI double and a wild pitch by ThunderBolts starter Sebastian Selway.
Gateway then kept up the offensive onslaught, using an error after a double by Rosario to take the lead at 6-5 in the top of the fourth, followed by a sacrifice fly by Andrew Penner to make it 7-5. Gateway would not lose that lead the rest of the way, as Lukas Veinbergs permitted one run back in the bottom of the fourth, but kept the Grizzlies in front.
Gateway would then add to their lead in the fifth thanks to an RBI single by Freeman, a sac fly by Rosario, and another wild pitch. They would also add more runs in the sixth on a two-run home run by Trevor Achenbach, his league-leading 14th of the season, to take a 12-6 lead. The teams traded runs down the stretch, including when the ThunderBolts used four walks in the ninth to get within 13-9. John Murphy then nailed down his second save of the season, ending the game with a strikeout as the Grizzlies moved above the .500 mark on the season for the first time since June 11.
Gateway pounded out 13 hits on offense, as all nine position players recorded at least one. Rosario's three-RBI night at the plate led the club, while Achenbach and Freeman also drove in multiple runs apiece. On the mound, Veinbergs recorded the first win of his pro career, pitching four strong innings as Gateway moved into third place in the West Division standings.
