HIGH SCORING GAMES AROUND THE LEAGUE AS GAMES GET SHORTENED DUE TO WEATHER
Florence vs New York
The Florence Y'alls (24-35) scored multiple runs in the first inning. Unlike Friday, the offense never looked back en route to a 14-6 win over the New York Boulders (31-29) at Clover Stadium in Pomona, N.Y. on Sunday.
The Y'alls not only scored three runs in the first, they put up crooked numbers in the first four frames. Eight of the nine starters collected a base hit, with all nine reaching base in the game. Anthony Brocato delivered four hits, three of them doubles. Bryant Flete hit a home run for the second straight contest. Flete, Alberti Chavez, and Craig Massey drove in three runs each.
Florence's long innings meant Edgar Martinez had to do a lot of sitting in the dugout, but the Y'alls starting pitcher was largely unaffected. Martinez allowed three earned runs over six innings to earn the win. Billy Damon and Tommy Siemer finished the game in relief.
Following a loss on Friday that saw the Y'alls lose a seventh-inning lead, the Florence bats have raked. In the last two games, the Y'alls have a combined 24 runs on 34 hits.
Gateway vs Tri-City
The Tri-City ValleyCats and Gateway Grizzlies wrapped up their weekend series on Sunday evening.
Patrick Faith made his first home start as a member of the ValleyCats, opposing him was left handed pitcher Manuel Rodriguez who was making his first start as a member of the Grizzlies.
Both offenses were held quiet in the first two innings, with Faith retiring the first six batters he faced. The 'Cats would get on the board first in the third inning when Cito Culver would ground into a double play that plated catcher Joey Campagna, who led the inning off with a walk.
Tri-City would add two more runs to their lead in the home half of the fourth inning when left fielder Jesus Lujano flicked a looping double into shallow left field. Caron McCusker and Pavin Parks both came in to score.
Patrick Faith would get through the third and fourth frames with no harm, allowing one walk and a lowly single in that span. Faith would run into trouble during the sixth inning. Andrew Penner would lead the inning off with a single, Isaac Benard would reach on a fielder's choice, breaking up a potential double play ball. Zach Racusin would record his second hit of the game, a single off Faith.
Brett Hanewich would replace Faith, entering the game to face Trevor Achenbach. The Grizzlies second baseman would rip a single into left field, loading the bases for Kevin Krause. The designated hitter for the Grizzlies would give Gateway the lead with a grand slam over the left field wall. Clint Freeman would pad the lead for the Grizzlies with a solo shot of his own, capping off a five-run sixth inning.
Gateway's lead did not last long, as Tri-City got on the board with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the sixth inning. A solo shot from Brantley Bell and an RBI single off the bat of Carson McCusker would be enough to tie the game at five heading into the seventh inning. Both Gateway and Tri-City would strand runners in scoring position during their opportunities at the plate in the seventh.
Following a one hour and seventeen minute rain delay, Niel Abbtiello would enter in the top of the eighth inning and would retire the Grizzlies in order. Sam Gardner would enter the game for the Grizzlies in the bottom half of the inning, and similarly to Abbatiello just a half inning prior would sit Tri-City down consecutively. Trey Cochran-Gill and Sam Gardner would work a scoreless frame in the ninth inning, sending the game to extra innings.
Zach Racusin would start the tenth inning on second base, and would not leave there. Cochran-Gill in his second inning of work induced two fly balls and a ground out to strand Racusin at second, giving Tri-City the chance to walk it off in the tenth.
Cito Culver would lead things off for the 'Cats in the bottom half of the tenth, with Mitch Piatnik representing the winning run on second. The newest ValleyCat would single into right field, bringing Piatnik around to score to complete the sweep of the weekend series.
Lake Erie vs Ottawa
The Ottawa Titans (37-24) used a seven-run third inning in a 10-2 routing of the Lake Erie Crushers on Sunday afternoon, securing the series win.
After Tyler Jandron (win, 5-3) breezed through the opening two innings, the southpaw allowed only one hit while striking out two in his eleventh start of the season. The Titans jumped out in front with an RBI double to left-centre from Jason Dicochea, plating Dane Tofteland all the way from first base in the bottom half of the second.
Rookie Kyle Seebach (loss, 0-1) seemed comfortable in his first professional appearance on Sunday, until the wheels fell off in the third. The lefty walked seven in the inning, leading to twelve to come to the plate as the Titans poured it on with a seven spot. AJ Wright drove in one with a sac fly to right, until Dicohea, Rodrigo Orozco, and Mitsuki Fukuda recorded free passes with the bases juiced to bring home runs.
In the fifth, the Titans added a pair via a wild pitch from reliever Anthony Quattrochi, followed by a Fukuda sac fly, making it 10-0.
The lead was plenty for Jandron to cruise through the rest of his outing in the series finale, as the lefty totaled six innings, allowing just one run off a Kemuel Rivera sixth-inning homer, surrendering six hits, walking one, and striking out six for the win. Jandron is now 1-1 since being activated from the seven-day IL just before the All-Star break, where over 12 innings, the southpaw has allowed only two runs.
After Gavin Sonnier worked a perfect seventh, Connor Owings' second homer of the series off Matt Terrones made it a 10-2 game in the eighth.
Battling the rain all afternoon, a downpour in the bottom of the eighth put an end to the contest after two reached. In the lopsided win, the Titans' offence set a new season-high with eleven walks.
Also, the Titans have now taken six of seven rubber games this season while earning their fifteenth series victory.
Windy City vs New Jersey
The ThunderBolts posted their second highest run output of the year as they pulled away from the New Jersey Jackals for a 15-4 win in the series finale at Yogi Berra Stadium Sunday afternoon.
They jumped on the board early for the third straight day, getting two runs in the first, one on an error and the other on a Payton Robertson RBI single. That was the first of four hits on the day for Robertson.
New Jersey (29-30) got one run right back on a Trevor Abrams RBI double in the second but that was the last time the Jackals were close.
The ThunderBolts (24-35) began to pull away in the fifth as Matt Morgan homered and Dan Robinson hit a two-run single. They added a single run in the sixth inning and Brynn Martinez hit an RBI single as part of a two run seventh.
The final two innings made it a runaway as Brian Fuentes brought home two runs on an eighth-inning single and Robinson hit a ninth-inning grand slam to give him six RBIs in the game and the ThunderBolts an 11-run lead.
After struggling to score in the first two games out of the all-star break, the Bolts wrapped up the series with 16 total hits on Sunday, including at least two from six different players.
Garrett Christman (2-4) allowed four runs in six innings and picked up the win while Nicholas DeSalvo (1-4) lasted just 4.2 innings, allowing five runs to take the loss.
Schaumburg vs Quebec
The Schaumburg Boomers dropped a rain-shortened contest to the Quebec Capitales in the final game of the weekend series as the hosts grabbed a 7-1 victory in five innings to take the series.
Quebec scored three runs in the bottom of the first against Schaumburg starter Shumpei Yoshikawa. The hosts added two more unearned runs on a T.J. White homer in the third and pulled ahead 7-0 on a two-run shot from Garrett Takamatsu in the fourth. The lone run for the Boomers came when Cos Cannella drilled a solo homer following a long at bat in the top of the fifth. Rain began falling in the third inning but did not intensify enough to cause a stoppage until after the conclusion of the top of the fifth.
Yoshikawa was hit with the loss, throwing a four-inning complete game and allowing just three earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts. Braxton Davidson extended his on-base streak to 16 with a single in the fourth. The Boomers finished with just three hits in the loss.
Empire State vs Joliet
The Joliet Slammers (30-30) defeated the Empire State Greys (3-57) Sunday afternoon by a score of 2-16.
The Greys got on the scoreboard first with a single by Magglio Ordonez Jr. to make the score 1-0.
Tthe Slammers would quickly tie it in the bottom of the second with a double by Carson Maxwell.
The only other Greys run would come in the top of the fourth with a home run to right field by Hiroki Itakura to make it 2-1.
However, Joliet would unload in the fourth inning by scoring seven runs and never looking back.
The Slammers would go on to score nine more runs throughout the game to ultimately lead them to their 2-16 win.
Andres Rodriguez would get the loss for Empire State while Cameron Aufderheide would solidify the win for Joliet.
Evansville vs Sussex County
The Evansville Otters departed Skylands Stadium Sunday afternoon with an 8-2 win against the Sussex County Miners, receiving solid pitching on the mound and key hits at the plate.
Evansville had early success against Sussex County starter Michael Mediavilla.
In the top of the first inning, Steven Sensley lined a hit to opposite field to drive in Jeffrey Baez for the game's first run and give Evansville an early 1-0 lead.
The Otters jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead in the top of the third when J.R. Davis singled to right with the bases loaded to score Bryan Rosario from third and Elijah MacNamee from second.
In the meantime, Otters starting pitcher Austin Gossmann got off to a strong start, recording three strikeouts in the first couple of innings.
Sussex County did manage to score a run in each of the third and fourth innings. Juan Silverio brought in Mikey Reynolds for an unearned run in the third, while Nick Garland homered to left in the fourth.
Holding a 3-2 lead through four, Gossmann locked back in on the hill for Evansville. The right-hander struck out four more through the seventh inning.
Gossmann's counterpart, Mediavilla, allowed three runs and struck out seven in seven innings for the Miners.
The Otters struck for four runs in the top of the eighth inning off three Miners pitchers, increasing their lead to 7-2.
Miles Gordon singled to right to score Davis and Baez to start the scoring in the inning for Evansville. Then Zach Biermann, who pinched-hit in the inning, later scored on an RBI single by Anthony Torreullas. The scoring in the eighth for Evansville finished with George Callil scoring on an error by Sussex County.
Gossmann's day ended with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, handing the ball over to reliever Augie Gallardo.
Gallardo got out of the bases-loaded jam on a big double play to end the eighth inning, getting David Maberry to fly out to Gordon in centerfield. Gordon proceeded to throw out Alex Toral at home after he tagged up at third base on Maberry's flyout.
Evansville tacked on an insurance run in the ninth on a sac fly by Gordon, picking up his third RBI of the game.
Offensively, Rosario led Evansville with a three-hit game in his debut. Sensley and Davis finished with two hits each. Davis also had a two-RBI game.
On the mound, Gossmann picked up his fifth win of the season, going 7.1 innings and striking out nine for the Otters. The Miners' Mediavilla recorded his fifth loss of the season.
Evansville will return home to Bosse Field this week for a six-game homestand, kicking it off with a midweek series against the New York Boulders.
Washington vs Trois-Rivières
Washington managed just three hits after a two-run second inning and fell to the Aigles in the series finale 4-2. Washington had scored 28 combined runs in the first two games of the set and won both, so the loss simply means a series win for the first-place Wild Things.
Unlike the last two nights, neither team scored in the first inning of the game, but both teams scored twice in the second. In the top half, Nick Ward doubled home Tristan Peterson, who doubled to start the frame. Ward scored on a single by Hector Roa, on which Roa was caught in between first and second and tagged out. Trois-Rivières scored on an error and a sac fly in the bottom half to even the score.
Nobody scored again until the bottom of the fourth when the Aigles plated two more on RBI singles by both Canice Ejoh and LP Pelletier. Hayden Pearce ended up getting a zero in the fifth to finish his day. He yielded four runs on five hits with five strikeouts in five innings of work in what was his 10th start of the year.
Washington threatened a few times after that but failed to score the rest of the way. The loss dropped the Wild Things to 38-22 on the season but the club is still in first place by at least three games, pending the result of Evansville and Sussex County's series finale.
