JOLIET DEFEAT AIGLES IN HIGH SCORING GAME

Trois-Rivières vs Joliet

The Joliet Slammers defeated the Trois-Rivières Aigles on Saturday night by a score of 11-4.

The Aigles got on the scoreboard first with Steve Brown reaching on a fielder's choice.

However, the Slammers would score 11 runs between the third, fourth, fifth, and seventh inning. 

The Aigles would score three runs in the ninth but ultimately would not be enough to win and the Slammers would win 11-4. 

Cameron Aufderheide gets the win for the Slammers while Mark Dozier gets charged with the loss for the Aigles. 

New Jersey vs Lake Erie

The Lake Erie Crushers continued their winning ways at home on Saturday night, as they used a four run fourth inning and great pitching to score a 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Jackals at Mercy Health Stadium. 

Lake Erie (32-33) has now won five straight at home, and the win clinched a series victory, marking their fourth in their last five while the loss for New Jersey (30-34) was their fourth in their last five games. 

New Jersey scored first for the second night in a row. Joe Simone won a nine pitch battle against Kyle Seebach (1-1) with a double down the line in right to start the game and came around to score on Justin Wylie's two out RBI single. 

The Jackals added another run in the top of the second. George Bell Jr. smacked a one out double to left center and came around to score three batters later when Simone belted a two out RBI double to left. 

New Jersey's starting pitcher Yasel Santana (2-5) retired nine out of the first 10 batters he faced through his first three innings of work, before the Crushers chased him out of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Jackson Valera started the inning with a single to right, before Kemuel Thomas-Rivera smashed a two-run homer to left, his fourth of the season to tie the game at 2-2. Kenen Irizarry followed with a single before Jake Gitter walked. Matt McDermott reached on a bunt to load the bases for Sean Cheely, who gave Lake Erie the lead with a sacrifice fly to left to score Irizarry. Connor Owings, the ninth batter of the inning was able to draw a bases loaded walk to bring in the final run of the frame, giving the Crushers a 4-2 advantage. 

In his second professional start, Seebach turned in a terrific start for the Crushers. He earned the victory after allowing just a pair of runs on six hits while striking out seven over six innings of work. Ean Walda and Sam Curtis both tossed scoreless innings in relief and Alexis Rivero (9) tossed a scoreless ninth inning to grab his second save in as many nights. Santana took the loss after allowing four runs on five hits through three and a third innings. 

Every Crusher batter reached safely at least once on the night. Gitter was the only Crusher to reach twice. 

In their last five games, Lake Erie's starting pitching has been terrific. Starting pitchers have gone six innings or more in every start and allowed two runs or less during that stretch as well. 

Sussex County vs Florence

Anthony Brocato mashed a three-run home run in the seventh inning, and the Florence Y'alls (28-36) turned a game-ending double play to defeat the Sussex County Miners 5-3 at Thomas More Stadium on Saturday night.

Brocato's homer, his team-best 19th of the season, wrapped around the foul pole in left field to give the Y'alls a 5-1 lead. Sussex County (36-29) contested the ball was foul, but the umpires ruled after a long conference the play to be fair. Brocato is fifth in the Frontier League in home runs.

A trend of first-inning runs continued as Florence scored first tonight, a Brocato sacrifice fly scoring Alberti Chavez. Ethan Stern singled in Brennan Price in the sixth as well.

Sussex County would not relent all night, and the Miners brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the top of the ninth. David Maberry hit a deep fly ball to center field. After making the catch, Rodney Tennie threw to second base and caught Juan Silverio attempting to tag up, ending the game. For the second game in a row, the winning team recorded the final two outs in a double play, with Tennie the key player involved.

After allowing nine runs yesterday, Florence's pitching looked sharper tonight. Starter Edgar Martinez (4-4) allowed only one run in six innings pitched. After Kent Klyman, Darwin Ramos, and Karl Craigie came out of the bullpen, Evy Ruibal earned the save for the Y'alls.

Ottawa vs Schaumburg

The Schaumburg Boomers struck out 11 batters but suffered a 6-4 loss at home to the Ottawa Titans in the middle of the series before another crowd of over 6,000 at Wintrust Field. 

The Boomers opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. Clint Hardy recorded the first hit of the game, a single to extend his on-base streak to 18 games, and moved up to third on a pair of errors. Mike Hart drove home the run with a groundout, his 20th RBI in 18 games with the team. Ottawa plated a pair of runs to take the lead in the top of the third. Blake Berry drilled a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to put Schaumburg ahead 3-2.

Ottawa tacked on two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to lead 6-1. Chase Dawson tripled in the bottom of the seventh and scored on an error but the Boomers could pull no closer. Shumpei Yoshikawa worked six innings but suffered the loss despite striking out eight. Thomas Nicoll, Kristian Scott and Jake Joyce all recorded a strikeout in relief. The Boomers posted nine hits in the defeat. Berry and William Salas both logged a pair of hits. Braxton Davidson extended his on-base streak to 21 games, matching the second longest streak of the season by the Boomers.

Quebec vs Washington

The Washington Wild Things took the series over the Québec Capitales with an 8-3 win. An early lead and late game runs helped Washington to achieve victory over the top team by record in the Frontier League. 

Nick Ward hit a home run as the leadoff hitter for the Wild Things in the first to give Washington the early lead. Andrew Czech followed this a few plays later with an RBI single to make it 2-0 for Washington at the end of the first. 

Québec scored a run on starter Stephen Knapp in the third to make it 2-1, and it stayed that way for a while. It wasn't until the sixth that the score changed when Wagner Lagrange hit an RBI double to take back the lost run. That same inning, Ian Walters hit a two-run homer to add on to the lead, making it 5-1 Washington. 

The Capitales scored two more runs in the eighth while Hayden Pearce pitched for the Wild Things, bringing the score to 5-3. In the bottom of the eighth, Walters hit an two-RBI double with the bases loaded to bring in two runs. The next play, Hector Roa hit a groundout to get Czech home for the Wild Things third run that inning, making the score 8-3. 

Kenny Pierson entered in the eighth and stayed on the mound in the ninth for Washington. After allowing a single, Pierson struck out the second batter that inning. The runner on first and final batter of the game were caught out on a 5-4-3 double play to end the game. Pierson finished the game having pitched 1.2 innings, allowed one hit, and struck out one and earned the save.

Knapp pitched five innings in his start, allowed one run, three hits, walked one and struck out six. Dan Kubiuk came in as relief in the sixth and struck out three straight in his only inning this game. Pearce entered in the seventh and pitched 1.1 innings, allowed two runs, four hits, one walk and struck out two.

Empire State vs Windy City

The Empire State Greys broke a 2-2 tie with a run in the top of the ninth to take down the ThunderBolts 3-2 at Ozinga Field.

For the second straight game, the Greys (5-60) got on the board in the first inning. It took just three batters for them to grab a 1-0 lead. The First two batters of the night walked and Camden Williamson picked up an RBI single to make it 1-0.

Garrett Christman settled in, walking just one more and striking out seven over his time in the ballgame.

The ThunderBolts (24-40) knotted it up with a run in the bottom of the third as Nikola Vasic hit the first home run of his professional career.

The next half inning, Empire State reclaimed the advantage. Jordan Holloman-Scott singled and scored on a Will Decker base hit to make it 2-1.

Daryl Myers singled with one out in the bottom of the fifth and came home on a Brynn Martinez double and again the score was tied. This time it remained that way for a while. Neither team scored again until the ninth.

The Greys led off that inning with back-to-back hitters reaching on errors. Pinch hitter Trey Woosley came up with a sacrifice fly to bring home the game-winning run.

Franklyn Hernandez (1-1) pitched the final two scoreless innings for the Greys, earning the win and giving the team back-to-back victories for the first time. Dazon Cole (0-2) was the tough-luck loser, pitching one inning without allowing an earned run.

Tri-City vs Evansville

The Evansville Otters got out to a five-run lead Saturday night and never looked back in route to a 10-6 win over the Tri-City ValleyCats.

Evansville grabbed a lead immediately in the first as Bryan Rosario and Steven Sensley hit back-to-back RBI singles. Two at-bats later, Zach Biermann's two-run double expanded the lead to 4-0.

In the second, the Otters added a fifth run with a sacrifice fly RBI from J.R. Davis. The inning ended abruptly as Rosario was caught trying to advance as well on the sacrifice fly.

Tri-City finally got to Austin Gossmann in the third, capitalizing on a one-out error on Andy Armstrong. Back-to-back RBI singles from Cito Culver and Brantley Bell brought the ValleyCats within three.

The Otters extended their lead further in the fourth, yet again linking hits together. After a Miles Gordon two-out double, Rosario hit an RBI single, Sensley followed with an RBI double and Davis rounded out the fourth with an RBI single. After four, Evansville's lead had risen to 8-2.

The game stood still into the seventh when the ValleyCats came closest to evening the game. Denis Phipps, who leads the Frontier League in RBIs, hit a one-out grand slam to bring the 'Cats within two.

The Otters added a run of insurance in the seventh as Justin Felix hit his first home run since July 1st. 

In the eighth, an RBI single from Davis put the game out of reach for good, lifting Evansville to a 10-6 lead.

Logan Sawyer entered the game in the ninth to close out the game, allowing just one hit in the ninth. 

Austin Gossmann earned his sixth win of 2022, allowing six runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings. The loss went to Jose Cruz, his seventh of the year.

Davis, Rosario and Sensley each had multi-hit nights, with Davis leading the way in RBIs with three.

New York vs Gateway

The Gateway Grizzlies and New York Boulders went back and forth all night long on Saturday at GCS Credit Union Ballpark, and thanks to stout work by the bullpen down the stretch, it was the home team that prevailed by a final score of 8-7, evening up the weekend set.  

After a scoreless first inning, the Boulders quickly got on the scoreboard in the top of the second with a solo home run by Gabriel Garcia to make it 1-0. But the Grizzlies responded quickly in the bottom half, as after back-to-back two-out singles, Alex Hernandez connected on a two-run double to give the Grizzlies a 2-1 lead. Gateway then continued their scoring in the next inning with four straight hits to lead off against Boulders starter Justin Alintoff, including a two-RBI double by Kevin Krause, take a 5-1 advantage. 

The ballgame turned into a back-and-forth affair in the middle innings. The Boulders bounced back offensively on a two-run home run by Austin Dennis to make it 5-3, and one run in the top of the fifth to get within one run before the Grizzlies answered with a solo home run by Zach Racusin, his second in as many games, in the bottom of the fifth, making the score 6-4 Grizzlies. 

The Boulders completed their comeback in the top of the sixth inning, scoring two unearned runs thanks to a leadoff error in the frame on an RBI groundout by Ray Hernandez and a two-out RBI single by Gian Martellini to tie the ballgame 6-6. But the Grizzlies again answered right away with some run manufacturing in the bottom of the frame. After Abdiel Diaz and Hernandez led off with back-to-back infield singles, Andrew Penner reached on a bunt single, with a throwing error by New York pitcher Ryan Munoz (2-2) allowing a tiebreaking run to score and make it 8-7. Two batters later, Racusin drove in Hernandez on a sacrifice fly to make it 8-6. 

New York got another run back in the top of the seventh with a solo home run by David Vinsky to make it 8-7, and put the tying and go-ahead runs on base with no one out in the eighth. But after Nick Kennedy struck out Martellini, Sam Gardner came on and finished the frame, stranding the runners on base before striking out the side in order in the ninth inning to earn the save.