DENNIS' 4 RBI GIVE BOULDERS SERIES WIN VS. MINERS, 3 TEAMS FINISH SERIES SWEEP
Sussex County vs New York
Austin Dennis drove in four runs as the host New York Boulders took the rubber game of their three-game set with the Sussex County Miners, winning 8-5 on Thursday at Clover Stadium in Pomona.
Tied at 4-4 in the eighth, the Boulders exploded for four runs. Jake MacKenzie snapped the tie with a bases loaded single that scored Chris Kwitzer. A wild pitch by Miners' reliever Mitchell Senger then allowed Gabriel Garcia to cross the plate with New York's sixth run.
Dennis followed by lacing a two-run single, his third and fourth RBI of the night, to increase the Boulders' advantage to 8-4.
Sussex County jumped on Boulders' starter Robby Rowland for three first inning runs - two coming on Martin Figueroa's eighth home run of the season and the third on a Jawuan Harris single.
New York, though, chipped away, scoring once in the second and one more in the third to get within 3-2 - both runs driven in by Giovanni Garbella, who hit a solo home run in the second - his sixth long ball of the season, the second via an RBI single in the third.
The Boulders grabbed a 4-3 lead in the fourth against Miners' starter John Baker, both runs scoring on a Dennis single.
Baker gave the Miners a quality start, going six innings and surrendering four runs, three earned, on nine hits. He struck out seven and walked three as he pitched to a no decision.
Meanwhile, Rowland lasted into the eighth inning for New York and surrendered four runs. He was relieved by Matt Leon with two runners on and no one out after allowing nine hits, walking two and striking out three. Leon stranded the runners, helping himself by running down a wild pitch and diving to tag out Nilo Rijo attempting to score from third.
The Miners, however, evened matters at 4-4 in the fifth on doubles by Figueroa and Mikey Reynolds, the later driving in the tying run.
Figueroa added an RBI single in the top of the ninth for Sussex County to cap off the night's scoring. It was his third RBI of the game.
Leon got the win for New York, improving to 4-0 on the season, while Ronnie Voacolo was tagged with the loss for Sussex County, his first of the year against no wins.
Schaumburg vs Evansville
The Schaumburg Boomers ended Evansville's win streak at nine in a 5-4 victory over the Otters in the finale in Southern Indiana on Thursday night.
Mike Hart put the Boomers ahead in the top of the first by slamming a two-out solo homer, his second with the team. Hart owns five hits, all for extra bases, and eight RBIs in his first four games with the team. The Boomers, who scored first in all three games of the series, added to the lead with three consecutive two-out RBI singles. Braxton Davidson, Matt Bottcher and William Salas all drove home runs.
Evansville pulled within 4-3 on a two-run homer from Jeffrey Baez in the fourth and a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Jordan Wiley scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a fielder's choice from Chase Dawson. Evansville scored a single run in the bottom of the ninth but Jake Joyce struck out three to tally his third save.
Kyle Arjona threw 6.2 innings, allowing two runs while striking out five. Kristian Scott stranded the tying run at third in the seventh with a strikeout to notch his team best seventh hold. Darrell Thompson also stranded the tying run on base in the eighth. Davidson and Salas both notched two hits as the Boomers finished with eight in the 17th game decided by a single run this year.
The Boomers (23-23) return home on Friday night for a 6:30pm game at Wintrust Field. RHP Jumpei Akanuma (1-0, 2.29) is scheduled to start the opener while Windy City counters with a former Schaumburg hurler LHP Bryan Ketchie (3-3, 5.62).
Quebec vs Tri-City
The ValleyCats and Quebec Capitales wrapped up their mid-week series and the 'Cats seven game homestand on Thursday evening at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.
Left hander Leo Crawford took the ball for the ValleyCats in the series finale. Coming into tonight, Crawford has been credited with victories in his last two outings. Right hander Michael Austin would toe the rubber for Quebec.
The Capitales would strike first in the games first inning on a two-run home run from third baseman TJ White, plating Tristan Pompey who reached on a walk. Austin would retire the ValleyCats in order to end the first frame.
Quebec would strike again in the top of the second inning, doubling their run total. Back to back RBI singles from Garrett Takamatsu and Mark-Antoine Lebreaux would give Quebec the 4-0 lead. The Capitales added to their lead in the third when White would launch his second two run shot of the game, giving him his third and fourth RBI's on the night. Takamatsu would ground into a double play in the third with the bases loaded, bringing home the seventh Capitale run of the night.
Tri-City would get on the board three times in the third and fourth innings. Joe Campagna would homer to right center field, plating Carson McCusker for their first two runs of the game. Denis Phipps would get in on the home run action as well, with a solo shot in the home half of the fourth inning, cutting the lead to 7-3 at the end of four.
The Capitales would break the game open in the fifth, on RBI hits from Mark-Antoine Lebreaux and Tristan Pompey, plating four more runs in the inning to make it 11-3. Joe Campagna would get the 'Cats on the board again in the bottom half of the fifth frame with an RBI double plating Carson McCusker who doubled the at-bat prior.
Four more Capitales would cross the plate in the final few innings, two in the sixth and two in the eighth on a Jeffry Parra home run to give the Capitales the 15-4 victory.
Lake Erie vs Florence
The Lake Erie Crushers (21-27) last series win came at the hands of a sweep. Lake Erie looked to do the same on Thursday as they faced off against the Florence Y'alls (17-30) who came into the contest with a nine game losing streak.
The offense shined in the first two games for the Crushers but it was Jay Alvarez and the Lake Erie pitching staff who shined in Thursday's game that led to a 4-0 shutout win. Lake Erie sweeping the Y'alls and extending their win streak to four.
Lake Erie scored in the first inning for the second consecutive time. Once again it was the hot bat of Connor Owings. Owings doubled to right field, and Jackson Valera scored. The Crushers added on to their lead in the third inning. Kenen Irizarry scored on a wild pitch.
The fifth inning proved to be a historic one for a specific Lake Erie Crusher. Kemuel Thomas-Rivero hit a solo home run to center field. That home run proved to be the first of the professional baseball career of Thomas-Rivero.
Alvarez entered tonight's start as one of the top strikeout pitchers in the Frontier League. Alvarez who has had his struggles on the road, put those past starts to rest. He threw six shutout innings, allowed three hits, one walk, zero runs, and struck out three. It was Alvarez's first start with under five strikeouts but his first shutout performance since May 28.
On the other side for the Y'alls, Alex Wagner received the start. Even with early damage, Wagner kept the game close for his team. He lasted five and third innings, allowed five hits, three runs, two walks, four strikeouts, and one home run.
The Crushers called upon their bullpen in the seventh inning. It'd be hard throwing Gleyvin Pineda to relieve Alvarez. Pineda able to find his command, he threw a scoreless inning. Inning later, Manager Cam Roth signaled to Sam Curtis. Curtis has been nails out of the Lake Erie bullpen in 2022, he continued his dominant stretchin the eighth. He struck out the side, kept the Crushers lead at three.
Up by three in the ninth, Lake Erie added one more insurance run to the board. Jake Gitter drove a one out solo home run, the fifth home run of the series for the Crushers.
Alexis Rivero, who appeared in Tuesday night's win, came out in the ninth. It was a non-save opportunity for Rivero as the Crushers led by four. The lead-off man reached but Rivero threw a scoreless ninth, providing the finishing touches to a Crushers sweep and a four game win streak.
Gateway vs Joliet
The Gateway Grizzlies broke a 3-3 tie with two outs in the seventh inning on Jay Prather's RBI single, and took the lead for good in what became a 5-4 win over the Joliet Slammers at Duly Health and Care Field, sweeping the road series to get back over .500 at 25-24 and pass Joliet in the standings on Thursday night.
The Grizzlies scored first, and quickly, off Joliet starter Cole Cook, as Andrew Penner and Isaac Benard led off the game with hits. Zach Racusin then brought Penner in on a ground ball to second base, and two batters later, Prather came up with what would end up as the first of two RBI singles with two outs in the game as the Grizzlies took a 2-0 advantage. They would add on to it in the third inning when Racusin scored Benard from second base on another RBI single for a 3-0 lead.
Justin Ferrell had retired the first six batters he faced, but ran into trouble in the bottom of the third, walking two in the inning before Scott Holzwasser tied the game on a three-run, two-out home run at 3-3. He then pitched a scoreless fourth inning to keep it tied, and Jared Milch (1-0) pitched two more scoreless frames to hold down the Slammers' offense.
In the seventh, with two outs against Tanner Kiest (1-2), the Grizzlies rallied. Racusin and Trevor Achenbach both drew walks to set up Prather, who lined the go-ahead base hit into left field to make it 4-3. Thanks to more stellar work by the Grizzlies' bullpen, they held that lead, and Benard hit a solo home run to left field to expand it to 5-3 going to the bottom of the ninth.
That would prove to be the winning run, as John Murphy allowed a solo home run to Carson Maxwell leading off the bottom of the ninth, but the right-hander struck out the next three Slammers hitters to secure his second save of the series and the sweep for Gateway.
The Grizzlies got double-digit hits as a team for the third-straight game for the first time since May, with Benard leading the way with a 3-for-5 night including two doubles and a home run. Prather and Racusin also enjoyed two-hit and two-RBI nights in the victory.
