NEW SERIES ARE UNDERWAY AS TEAMS RETURN FROM ALL-STAR BREAK

Gateway vs Tri-City

The Tri-City ValleyCats and Gateway Grizzlies met at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium on Saturday night for the second game of this three game set.

Left handed starter Ryan Williamson made his fourth start of the season for Tri-City. Williamson came in to the start with an 0-3 record and a 9.00 ERA. J.P. Williams was his opposition.

Ryan Williamson would retire the Grizzlies in order to begin the game, bringing a scorching hot ValleyCats offense to the plate. Denis Phipps would get the 'Cats on the board with an RBI single in the home half of the first inning, plating Cito Culver who led off with a single of his own. In the second inning, first baseman Brad Zunica would add a run to the 'Cats lead with his own RBI single giving Williamson a 2-0 cushion.

The southpaw would dazzle in the second and third frames, retiring the next six Grizzlies batters in order. He would run into trouble in the fourth inning, surrendering RBI doubles to Isaac Benard and Trevor Achenbach to knot the game at 2-2.

The tie would not last all that long, as Tri-City would bring three runs home in the bottom half of the same inning. Mitch Piatnik would record an RBI single to give the lead back to Tri-City. Brantley Bell would extend the lead with a two-run shot of his own, bringing Denis Phipps to the plate with Pavin Parks on base. The designated hitter would tie the ValleyCats single season record with a two-run blast off of Williams to give Tri-City the 7-2 lead.

An RBI single from Andrew Penner and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Grizzlies right fielder Isaac Benard would chip away at the 'Cats lead in the top of the fifth inning, cutting it to 7-4.

Denis Phipps would come to the plate just one swing away from claiming the home run crown for the second year in a row. The right handed hitter would launch a solo shot over the berm in left center field for his 22nd big fly of the season, setting the record yet again.

Joey Campagna would get himself in the home run column with a two-run shot in the same inning, giving the 'Cats an eight run cushion heading into the seventh inning.

Neither team would plate runs in the seventh, and a Gateway player wouldn't cross home plate in the top half of the eighth inning either. Jesus Lujano would record an RBI double in the home half of the inning, bringing Brad Zunica in to score. The only unearned run scored against Gateway would come in the same turn at bat, when a Joey Campagna single allowed Lujano to score on an error on Zach Racusin in left field.

The Grizzlies would get on the board once more in the ninth on an RBI single from Ian Bibiloni. The 'Cats would not allow a run after that, giving Tri-City the series victory.

Lake Erie vs Ottawa

The Ottawa Titans (36-24) and Lake Erie Crushers combined for 21 runs on Saturday night, as the Titans were edged 11-10 on home turf.

Kenen Irizarry got the Crushers on the board with a two-run single against Titans righty Zac Westcott (ND, 7-1) in the top half of the third. For good measure, Jake Gitter roped a double to the wall in right, cashing in two more to put the Crushers ahead 4-0.

Fellow All-Star right-hander Joseph Sgambelluri (ND, 5-4) did not allow a hit through three, silencing the Titans' offence in the early going. In the fourth, the bats started clicking as an E4 and a Rodrigo Orozco RBI single made it a two-run game.

As Westcott settled in, the Crushers' offence would string together a pair of hits, plating one to make it 5-2 in the fifth. Left-hander Matt Valin served up back-to-back homers to Gitter and Sean Cheely, extending the Crushers' lead to 8-2.

The end of the line for Westcott saw the righty ring in four and two-thirds on Saturday, allowing six runs on nine hits, walking one, and striking out two in his thirteenth start of the season.

Down by six, the Titans cued the comeback against reliever Paul Kasanovich in the sixth, sending eight to the dish. Jacob Talamante brought home a pair with a two-run single to right, then Clay Fisher extended his hit streak to nine games with an RBI single to left-centre.

Backed by Kaleb Schmidt's two shutout innings out of the bullpen against his former squad, the Titans took the lead in bizarre fashion in the seventh.

After Jake Sanford led off with a double against Trevor Kuncl, a ground out from Taylor Wright put Sanford 90 feet away to eventually plate on a wild pitch. 

Trailing 8-6, three straight walks loaded the bases as the lineup turned over following a fielder's choice. Jay Alvarez was brought in to record the final out, until Jackie Urbaez lifted a popup to third, for it to fall in to score two runs, tying the game at eight.

With runners on the corners, Fisher ripped another single to give the Titans the lead going to the eighth.

Grant Larson surrendered a leadoff double, followed by two infield singles, leading to the tying run. Bryan De La Rosa's squibber up the third baseline plated a Cheely lead-off double, bringing the game back to square one.

Tied headed to the ninth, Kevin Escorcia (loss, 1-2) brought the Crushers down to their final strike with one on. Gitter's second homer of the night took Escorcia over the wall in left, giving the visitors back the lead at 11-9. Gitter finished the night 4-for-5 with a double, two homers, and six RBI.

In the bottom half, the Titans loaded the bases with no one out against right-hander Sam Curtis (win, 3-2) to put the pressure on. Urbaez's sac fly to left plated Orozco from third to make it a one-run game. Fisher followed suit with a ground ball to third for an unconventional ending, as a forceout at second left Tyrus Greene caught between second and third, leading to a tag out to finish the game.

Windy City vs New Jersey

Into the Galaxy the Jackals flew on this hot humid Saturday night to face off the Windy City ThunderBolts in game two after a walk-off win in the bottom of the 10th on Friday. 

Angelo Baez started on the mound for the Jackals tonight. The second pitch of the night was a home run by Daryl Myers to take the lead 1-0 early in the game. With all zeros on the board for the second and third innings, the Jackals received a go-ahead blast from their left fielder. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning George bell Jr hit a bomb over the center field wall to drive in Alfredo Marte and push the Jackals in front 2-1. Brett Smith came in to pitch for the Thunderbolts in the bottom of the seventh inning. Josh Rehwaldt singled to center field and Todd Isaacs was able to score to improve the Jackals lead to 3-1. Baez worked through seven dazzling innings, only letting up the leadoff home run and four hits. Dylan Peiffer came in to close out the game in the eighth inning. Peiffer struck out three batters and got the Jackals the six out save to help win the second game of the three game series. The night concluded with an amazing fireworks display and the Jackals celebrating their sixth straight win and second straight series victory. 

Schaumburg vs Quebec

The Schaumburg Boomers opened a 2-0 lead early, but the Quebec Capitales rode their ace to an 11-2 victory in the middle game of the series in Canada. 

Blake Berry put the Boomers ahead early for the second consecutive contest. Taking advantage of some early control issues from All-Star Miguel Cienfuegos, Berry singled home Alec Craig and Chase Dawson with one out. Cienfuegos settled down and allowed just one hit in the remainder of his outing, striking out seven in six innings to improve to 8-1 on the year.

Quebec scored twice in the bottom of the first to even the game and added two more in the second before plating five in the fourth with two outs, highlights by a grand slam from Jeffry Parra. Kyle Arjona worked four innings and suffered the loss in his first start since July 7. Jumpei Akanuma twirled a scoreless fifth while Tanner Shears worked two blank frames. Position players Blake Grant-Parks and Braxton Davidson combined on the eighth. The Boomers finished with just five hits coming from five different individuals.

Florence vs New York

The Florence Y'alls (23-35) led by five runs in the top of the tenth inning. They ended up having to win a tiebreaker against the New York Boulders (31-28) 10-9 at Clover Stadium in Pomona, N.Y. Saturday night.

Five consecutive base runners scored to lead off the tenth inning for Florence, who faced three different Boulders pitchers in the frame. Brennan Price and Anthony Brocato hit back-to-back RBI doubles, and Bryant Flete singled in two more runs.

New York answered Florence's rally with one equally as strong. The Boulders came up with five runs on five hits in the bottom of the tenth to stun the Y'alls and send the game to a tiebreaker.

The Boulders elected to make the Y'alls hit in sudden death, and Florence obliged. Billy Damon led off with a bunt single. Two batters later, Craig Massey singled to score Alberti Chavez and win the game.

Massey's RBI is his first since coming off the injured list earlier in the month. He had multiple hits in the contest, as did Brennan Price, Anthony Brocato, Ethan Stern, Bryant Flete, and Rodney Tennie. Florence totaled 10 runs on 15 hits, one of their best offensive performances in a road game all year.

Empire State vs Joliet 

The Joliet Slammers (29-30) defeated the Empire State Greys (3-56) by a score of 0-13 Saturday night. 

Slammers wasted no time on Saturday by scoring six runs in the first inning. 

Matt Mcgarry would help the Slammers add on to their lead in the second with a double to make the score 0-8. 

Joliet would end up scoring two more runs in the inning. 

The last few runs came in the fifth, sixth, and seventh and would ultimately lead the Slammers to their win. 

Johsson Arias would get the loss for the Greys while Cole Cook would get the win for Joliet. 

Evansville vs Sussex County

The Evansville Otters were in striking distance of the Sussex County Miners multiple times Saturday, but the chances would not fall the Otters' way in a tight 5-3 loss to the Miners.

Evansville tallied the first run of the game in the top of the first inning off a sac fly by Jeffrey Baez to score Miles Gordon.

Sussex County answered in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Juan Silverio.

The Miners took a 3-1 lead in the home half of the second when Alex Toral collected a two-RBI double off Evansville starter Brett Adcock.

Adcock locked the game in at that score with four consecutive shutout innings through the middle portion of the game.

Evansville forced Sussex County to go to the bullpen early, as Sussex County removed starting pitcher Jimmy Boyce after four innings for James Mulry.

The Otters closed the gap to one with a run off of Mulry in the top of the seventh, as Anthony Torreullas recorded a sac fly RBI to drive home Justin Felix. 

Evansville would strand the bases loaded in the seventh to end their rally. 

Adcock pitched seven innings deep for Evansville, but one more unearned run would score toward his final line in the bottom of the seventh after an Otters error and giving the Miners a 4-2 edge.

Each club split run-scoring fielder's choices in the eighth, leading to a 5-3 Miners lead and the game's final score.

Mulry picked up his third win for Sussex County in three innings of long relief, while Adcock was given his second loss of the season. Robert Klinchock recorded his sixth save for the Miners, pitching the last 1.2 innings. 

Gordon was the only Otter with multiple hits – two, while Baez and Torreullas had the only RBIs.

Washington vs Trois-Rivières

Washington used consistent offense throughout the middle game with the Aigles to clinch a series victory, which also earned right hander Rob Whalen his league-leading 10th win of the season. Washington upended Trois-Rivières by a final of 13-3.

Both teams scored in the first inning on outs. With Breland Almadova at third after doubling earlier in the frame and advancing, first baseman Tristan Peterson notched an RBI in the first for the second-straight night, this time with a sac fly to make it 1-0 Washington. The Aigles got it back on a groundout to score LP Pelletier, who doubled on the first pitch he saw in the inning. 

That stopped the scoring for a bit for the home team while Washington started the onslaught in the third with four tallies. Chris Eusay hit his first homer as a Wild Things before a wild pitch scored another run and a two-run double by Ian Walters plated the final two of the frame, giving Washington a 5-1 lead. 

That grew with a three-run fourth and a three-run sixth for the visitors. Scotty Dubrule hit an RBI double to plate Almadova before scoring on a Peterson home run, his first of the season in the fourth. In the sixth, Peterson reached on an error and a run scored, Nick Ward hit a fielder's choice for a run and an errant throw on a pickoff try scored a third and made it 11-1. 

Trois-Rivières got a run back in the bottom of the sixth on a Steve Brown sac fly to make it 11-2. But Washington added in the eighth. Tristan Peterson hit a fielder's choice for his fifth RBI of the night and Hector Roa lifted a sac fly to plate a 13th run, making it an 11-run lead for the Wild Things. 

Rob Whalen's night ended after seven innings of work, in which he allowed two runs on eight hits with six strikeouts. The win, his 10th, pulls him into a tie on the single-season Wild Things' leaderboards in the category for 7th. The record is 14. 

Kenny Pierson pitched the eighth and Christian James the ninth to close the win out for the Wild Things. James yielded a run in the ninth on an RBI single by T-R's Raphael Gladu.