SWEEPS AROUND THE LEAGUE AS NEW JERSEY SWEEPS QUEBEC
Quebec vs New Jersey
August started off well for the New Jersey Jackals (34-34), taking their first two games of the new month against their oldest rivals in the Quebec Capitales (45-23). Thursday night served as an opportunity for the team to make history. Thanks to strong contributions both on the mound and at the plate, New Jersey took down the top team in the league 6-2, completing their first sweep of Quebec since May 30-June 1 of 2016.
The game started much like the prior two contests with the Capitales jumping out to an early lead, this time taking advantage of three Yasel Santana (1-1) walks, and an RBI by Kyle Crowl and Josh McAdams. Though once again sticking to the series script, the Jackals would go on to
tame Quebec's bats for the remainder of the contest.
Throughout the three game set, the Capitales outscored New Jersey 7-0 in the first inning, with the advantage shifting to the Jackals 22-2 in innings two through nine. Additionally, Quebec failed to score after their initial trips to the plate in their last two games.
New Jersey relied on their star power early, taking a 3-2 lead thanks to a two-run home run by Dalton Combs in the bottom of the third, his twelfth of the season. He then added another RBI in the fifth to vault himself into the team lead and a three-way tie for third in the league with 64.
We'd be remiss if we neglected to talk about the Jackals' arms. After a rough first inning, Santana silenced Pat Scalabrini's lineup, eventually exiting the game with a line of two runs allowed on one hit, four walks, and six strikeouts in as many innings to earn his first victory as a member Brooks Carey's rotation.
Yasel was then followed up by Juan Perez, Thomas Bruss, and Jefry Valdez combining to toss three scoreless frames, while striking out five and allowing just two baserunners.
With the win, New Jersey advances to .500 on the season for the first time since July 23rd, raises their run differential to +11, takes a five to four season series advantage against Quebec and stay the course in what will be an exciting playoff race down the stretch of the final 27 games of the season.
Gateway vs Washington
The Washington Wild Things took the series against the Gateway Grizzlies with a 2-0 victory. Kobe Foster's effort on the mound and crucial runs in the second and third gave Washington the victory.
Foster pitched for seven innings this game, faced 23 batters and retired 14 in a row between the second and fifth innings. He allowed two hits and struck out seven in the win. The seven innings and seven strikeouts both set new career highs for the young lefty.
With runners on first and second, Nick Ward hit an RBI single to give Washington the first run of the game and the lead after the second. Andrew Czech made it home on a wild pitch in the third to make it a two-run game.
After no scoring for the next five innings, Gateway came up to bat against Lukas Young for the ninth. Young walked the first batter and allowed a single before the first out. Ward, Scotty Dubrule and Czech converted a double play to leave a single runner for Gateway at third. Young walked the next batter to put runners on the corners, but he struck out the final batter to get the 2-0 victory.
Young finished having pitched one inning, allowed one hit, walked two, and struck out one for the save, his 14th. Isaac Mattson, making his Wild Things' debut this game, relieved Foster for the eighth and pitched one inning, allowed two walks and struck out one.
Ottawa vs Tri-City
The ValleyCats were set to host the Ottawa Titans in their mid-week series finale tonight at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.
Thursday's rubber match has been postponed to a later date, with the make up to be determined.
Trois-Rivières vs New York
Chris Kwitzer drove in two runs and starting pitcher Robby Rowland allowed one run over six innings as the New York Boulders completed a sweep of their three-game series with the visiting Trois-Rivieres Aigles with a 3-1 win on Thursday at Clover Stadium in Pomona.
The Boulders snapped a 1-1 tie with a pair of sixth inning runs. Jake MacKenzie led off the frame against Aigles' starter Sam Poliquin by drawing a walk. David Vinsky was then hit by a pitch before Austin Dennis flied out to center.
Gabriel Garcia followed with a fly ball to right on which MacKenzie tagged up and advanced to third. Chris Kwitzer then lined a single to right that scored MacKenzie and sent Vinsky to third.
Matt Reitz came on to relieve Poliquin and was greeted with an RBI single by Ray Hernandez.
The Aigles had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI double by Carlos Martinez. The Boulders would knot the game at 1-1 in the fourth on a Kwitzer sacrifice fly.
Robby Rowland started and went six innings for the Boulders, allowing one run on six hits. The righthander did not walk a batter and struck out a season-high eight. At one point between the second and fifth innings, Rowland retired 10 straight Aigles.
Rowland got the win to improve to 4-3 on the season.
Dan Wirchansky followed Rowland with two scoreless innings before handing the ball over to Leo Pineda, who closed out the win with a scoreless ninth inning.
Poliquin went 5 2/3 innings for Trois-Rivieres and surrendered six hits and three runs. He walked one and struck out four. Poliquin took the loss, falling to 5-5 on the year.
Schaumburg vs Florence
Anthony Brocato and Brennan Price each launched a grand slam for the Florence Y'alls (30-38) in a 16-6 defeat over the Schaumburg Boomers (35-32) at Thomas More Stadium on Thursday night.
Brocato's grand slam came in the second inning and checked in at 445 feet, the longest home run tracked all season. Price's 408-foot shot came in the fifth. Catcher Cooper Edwards also went yard in the eighth for his first professional home run.
The Y'alls dealt with an inauspicious start, though. With rain pouring down in Florence at first pitch, Schaumburg scored four runs in the first inning which included a half-hour rain delay. Unlike last night, the Boomers' bats did not keep the heat on. The Y'alls scored two runs in the bottom of the first and six runs in the next frame.
After every Schaumburg batter recorded a hit yesterday, the Y'alls did the same thing today in the rubber match. Luis Pintor led the way with three base hits, all singles. Price picked up 5 RBI in the win, bringing his season total to 69, second in the Frontier League.
Four-run first inning aside, Edgar Martinez settled in and went 4.1 innings as the starting pitcher. Sean Hughes, Kent Klyman, and Bryant Flete combined to pitch 4.2 hitless innings out of the bullpen. In Florence's two wins over Schaumburg this series, the bullpen has not allowed a single run.
Not to be overlooked, Flete, a position player, now has three scoreless and hitless innings under his belt. He is the first position player to pitch back-to-back games for the Y'alls this season.
Evansville vs Lake Erie
The Evansville Otters used an Elijah MacNamee three-run home run to take the final game from the Lake Erie Crushers, 6-5.
Lake Erie scored in the first inning in a third straight game - once again making use of an Evansville error. On what should have been out three, Tyler Doanes misplayed a ball at second, allowing Jackson Valera to score.
Evansville responded in the third, taking their first lead of the ballgame on a Jeffrey Baez two-run single.
Immediately, the Crushers got back at Austin Gossmann, striking for a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. Connor Owings led off the inning with a solo home run before Kenan Irizarry grabbed the second run on an RBI single later in the inning.
In the fourth, Evansville led off with a walk to J.R. Davis and a single by Steven Sensley. Directly after, MacNamee hit a three-run home run to left center, giving the Otters a 5-3 lead.
Two innings later, the Evansville lead grew once again with an RBI single from Miles Gordon.
Lake Erie mounted their comeback in the eighth, scoring on back-to-back plays from Austin While and Sean Cheely. A double play ended the Crushers' rally, with the Otters hanging on to a 6-5 lead.
In the ninth, Logan Sawyer entered the game to close things out. Two of the three batters he faced would sit down with strikeouts as Evansville closed out their win.
Gossmann received the win for Evansville, his team-high seventh of the year. The loss fell to Joseph Sgambelluri, who gave up five of Evansville's six runs. Sawyer received the save, his league-leading 17th of 2022.
Sensley and MacNamee both recorded multi-hit days for the Otters. Gordon had his hit-streak hit 16 games.
Empire State vs Sussex County
The Sussex County Miners defeated the Empire State Greys in a close win with a score of 8-6 at Skylands Stadium on Thursday night.
The Greys had got on the scoreboard first with a double off of Willie Estrada to score two runs in the top of the first.
The Miners would score one run in the bottom of the inning.
The Greys would add onto their lead in the top of the third by scoring three runs to make the score 5-1.
Empire State would hold their lead for the next few innings until the bottom of the seventh.
Miners would tie the game by scoring two runs after Empire State had hit a home run in the top of the seventh and the Miners adding a few runs in the sixth.
The Miners would then get the lead for the first time in the game in the bottom of the eighth and ultimately help lead them to their 6-8 win.
James Mulry gets the win for Sussex County while Robert Klinchock gets the save. Thomas Derer gets charged with the loss for Empire State.
Joliet vs Windy City
Jack Alkire allowed only one hit through the first seven innings Thursday night but the ThunderBolts' offense was held to one hit for the game as they fell 3-2 to the Joliet Slammers at Ozinga Field.
Jake Boone led off the bottom of the second inning for the ThunderBolts (26-41) with a hit by pitch and Jairus Richards followed with a walk. That brought Payton Robertson to the plate with two on and he rolled a single through the left side of the infield for an RBI. With two on and no outs, the Bolts were unable to tack on more runs in the inning and Robertson's RBI single turned out to be the only safety in the game for the home side.
The lack of hits didn't keep them off the scoreboard. After Robertson walked in the fifth inning, he stole second base and moved to third on a passed ball. He scored when Brynn Martinez hit a sacrifice fly, making it 2-0.
Alkire was dominant on the mound. He didn't allow his first hit until there were two outs in the fifth inning. Joliet's only early scoring threat came in the fourth when they put two on with no outs on back-to-back errors. Alkire pitched out of the jam to keep the lead.
The Slammers (33-35) broke through against the Windy City bullpen, scoring twice in the eighth on four hits and a walk and tying the score.
In the ninth inning, JP Fullerton doubled and Matt McGarry brought him home on a sacrifice fly to deliver the winning run.
Tanner Kiest (2-2) pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the win and Layne Schnitz-Paxton (3-4) allowed the final run for the loss.
