TRI-CITY DEFEATS QUEBEC AS JACKALS SWEEP DOUBLE-HEADER

Tri-City vs Quebec

Following dropping game one to the East-leading Quebec Capitales due to a late home run on Tuesday, the 'Cats looked to get even on Wednesday in the middle game of the three-game set, and set up a rubber match on Thursday.

Southpaw Ryan Williamson took the hill for the 'Cats, and would battle for five innings, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 4 hits, before turning it over to the 'Cats bullpen. Relievers Neil Abbatiello, Adam Hofacket, and Trey Cochran-Gill would not surrender a hit or run. The only two base runners that would reach against the Tri-City bullpen would do so on the free pass, with 1 walk by Abbatiello and Cochran-Gill respectively.

After breaking into the score column first courtesy of a Carson McCusker RBI double, scoring Denis Phipps, in the top of the 4th, the 'Cats would immediately lose the lead in the bottom half of the frame. The 'Cats responded with a 3-run top of the 5th, courtesy of home runs by Brantley Bell and Brad Zunica. The first of Zunica's two home runs on the night would claim a lead the 'Cats would hold on to for the rest of the night.cDenis Phipps would also homer in the contest.

The statement win came with a side of history. ValleyCats second baseman Brantley Bell entered the day tied with former 'Cat Juan Silverio's franchise record for most hits in a single-season (107). With a 3-for-5 night, Brantley has moved into sole possession of first place in hits in a single-season, surpassing the record set by Silverio last season with a single in the top of the first, extending his hitting streak to 22 games. 

New York vs Ottawa

The Ottawa Titans (44-30) used a combined 15 strikeouts from Kaleb Schmidt (win, 3-3), Matt Valin, Nelson Gonzalez, and Kevin Escorcia (save, 14) to defeat the New York Boulders 3-2 on Wednesday night.

After retiring the first two he faced, Schmidt walked the following two batters as the Boulders brought up Gabriel Garcia. The Boulders' second baseman lined a single to centre, scoring Austin Dennis to make it 1-0.

The early deficit did not phase the Titans, as Robby Rowland (loss, 4-4) walked AJ Wright to lead off the bottom half of the first. Jackie Urbaez followed suit with a triple to the gap in right-centre, tying the game at one as Wright scored. Rodrigo Orozco cashed in a second with an RBI groundout, making it 2-1. 

Taking the lead after one, Schmidt would settle in on the hill for the Titans on Wednesday, only allowing four more base runners, including two hits over his final four innings of work. Making his second start as a Titan, Schmidt went five innings, allowing one run, on three hits, walking two, and striking out six for the win.

After the Titans got a pair of leadoff walks in the third, Rowland locked in on the bump to retire 13 of the next 14 he faced. Tossing into the seventh, Malik Williams kept the inning alive with his first professional hit. Still in the game, Rowland surrendered a double to Wright down the left-field line to score the pinch runner Kai Moody all the way from first, making it 3-1.

Valin tossed two shutout innings out of the bullpen, striking out five of the seven he faced to hold the lead. The Boulders got back within one in the eighth, with a David Vinsky solo homer off Gonzalez.

Escorcia would strike out the first two he'd face in the ninth, before allowing a two-out baserunner to reach. Facing Tucker Nathans, the southpaw capped off the ballgame with another punchout to guide the Titans to the victory.

Empire State vs New Jersey

On a beautiful Waggy Wednesday, the Jackals took the field for a doubleheader against the Greys and won both games to send Empire State to an ignominious record.

With Angelo Baez starting on the mound in game one, the Jackals started strongly on both defense and offense. Trevor Abrams hit a double to start off the game, which was followed by a Santiago Chirino hit by pitch, an Alfredo Marte hit by pitch and a Josh Rehwaldt bases loaded walk to give the Jackals a 1-0 lead. Jason Agresti became the third Jackal to be plunked in the inning, scoring Marte to make it 2-0 after one inning.

Abrams would strike again in the Fourth, clubbing a home run deep into right field to stake New Jersey to a 4-0 lead. 

Finally, in the top of the 5th inning the Grays were able to score a run against Baez. The second-year Jackal pitched a complete game, allowing just six hits and the one run while striking out five. He moves to 6-4 on the season with the Jackals 4-1 win in Game one.

The Jackals were able to score a run at the bottom of the second of the second inning of Game Two, but Empire State put a scare into the home crowd with a four run inning. Liam McArthur laced an RBI single to right to tie the game at one. A few pitches later, McArthur was standing on third as the Greys executed a double steal- Jose Mercado took second and McArthur raced home to give Empire State a 2-1 lead. Trey Woosley and Willie Estrada would add RBI singles to press the advantage to 4-1.

New Jersey wasted no time in the comeback effort, posting 4 runs in the bottom of the third to establish a lead they would never relinquish. Marte doubled to score Dalton Combs and George Bell Jr. and then Josh Rehwaldt doubled to score Justin Wylie and Marte, reestablishing a one run advantage for New Jersey, 5-4.

Marte poked his second multi-RBI base hit in the next inning to push the lead to 7-4, Wylie added an RBI single and Rehwaldt would provide the last of the insurance runs, launching his 25th homer of the season to right for an 11-4 Jackals lead.

After a small rally from the Greys in the sixth, the Jackals slammed the door in the seventh inning, utilizing Jose Altagracia Ramirez. He struck out the side on his way to his third save of the year. The Jackals sweep of the two games pulls them to within one game of .500 and pushes the Greys to 5-69, breaking the Frontier League record for most losses in a season, previously held by the Kalamazoo Kings in 2010.

Trois-Rivières vs Sussex County 

The Trois-Rivieres Aigles and Sussex County Miners split a doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon with the Trois-Rivières Aigles taking the first game 8-3 and Sussex County taking the second game 0-2. 

The first game took place as a resume to the game that took place on Tuesday.

The game started Tuesday where the Miners got on the board first with Martin Figueroa hitting a double to score the first run. 

The Miners would tack on another run in the bottom of the second. 

The Aigles would get on the board in the third inning before the game would get postponed. 

It would resume on Wednesday and the Aigles would add more runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings making it 8-2. 

The Miners would score a run in the ninth but would not be enough and would lead to their  8-3 loss. 

Tucker Smith gets the win for the Trois-Rivières Aigles while Conner Dand gets the loss for the Miners. 

In the second game, there wouldn't be too much action with the only runs of the game being in the bottom of the seventh inning with a walk-off homerun from Alex Toral and would bring them their 0-2 win. 

Dwayne Marshall gets the win for the Miners while Sam Poliquin gets the loss. 

Washington vs Florence

After having the game tied in the bottom of the seventh at 2-2 by Florence, Washington used a four-run 10th inning to take the middle game of the series in Florence, 6-2 and with it, the series. 

Washington started the scoring in the first with a fielder's choice by Wagner Lagrange and extended its lead to 2-0 in the sixth when Cam Balego doubled to start the frame for his first Wild Things' hit. Balego scored on a sac fly by Jared Mang. 

Kobe Foster was brilliant again, spinning six shutout innings in the victory, though he didn't get a decision. Foster allowed just four hits and one walk, while he fanned five. Dan Kubiuk was charged with the runs in the seventh on a two-run single by Rodney Tennie that tied things at 2-2 against Kenny Pierson. 

The Wild Things turned to Christian James, who worked two scoreless for the win. This came after Washington had a prime chance snuffed out in the eighth when the team loaded the bases after Florence tied things, but came up empty on a hard-hit liner caught off the bat of Nick Ward and a second out on the play as Cole Brannen, who reached five times tonight, was doubled off first. 

Once it got to the 10th, Cam Pferrer walked four, including Brannen and Ward with the bases full to give Washington a 4-2 lead. Hector Roa then singled home two to blow it open and make it 6-2, which Washington held on to with a one-two-three frame from Lukas Young in the bottom of the 10th. 

The Washington Wild Things now have a league-best record of 49-25 and will go for No. 50, which would also serve as franchise win No. 999, tomorrow in the finale. Daren Osby will take the mound for the Wild Things. 

Washington's playoff magic number is down to 11 at this writing and could go to 10 if Lake Erie knocks off Gateway. The division magic number is 16, and could be at 15 tonight if Windy City holds on to beat Evansville. 

Joliet vs Schaumburg

The Schaumburg Boomers completed a 5-1 homestand by rallying to a 4-2 win on a day when the franchise set a single season record for attendance with 10 home dates remaining.

Joliet built a 2-0- lead in the contest by scoring single runs in the third and fourth on two-out singles from Matt Burch and Lane Baremore respectively. The comeback starting in the bottom of the fifth. Clint Hardy doubled off the wall in center to score Brett Milazzo with one away. Blake Berry opened the bottom of the sixth with a double against Joliet starter Cole Cook and Braxton Davidson put the Boomers ahead with one swing, his 14th homer of the year, a two-run blast off the light tower in right-center, his first since July 16. Chase Dawson added insurance with a sacrifice fly to score Nick Oddo in the seventh.

Shumpei Yoshikawa worked five innings in a no-decision, striking out five. Kristian Scott earned the win in relief leaving key potential insurance runs on base in the sixth. Berry also threw out a runner at the plate in the frame. Tanner Shears logged .2 innings in the seventh with Aaron Glickstein posting the final out. Thomas Nicoll worked the eighth and Darrell Thompson spun the ninth to reach double-digit saves with his 10th of the year. The pitching staff recorded 11 strikeouts and fanned 72 over the course of the homestand. The pitching staff leads the league in strikeouts and owns 82 over the last seven affairs.

Schaumburg finished with 10 hits at the plate, three of which came from Hardy, who is hitting .374 over the last 25 games. Berry and Davidson both finished with two hits. Davidson has reached base in 31 consecutive games and owns a 10-game hitting streak. Berry has reached base in the last 13 games and in 15 of his 16 games with the team. The Boomers are seven games over the .500 mark for the first time this season. The offense finished with 68 hits during the homestand.

The organization, which has been named as the Frontier League's Organization of the Year four times, has drawn 174,545 fans in 42 home dates, an average of over 4,100 fans per game. During the 2022 season crowds have exceeded 6,000 fans eight times while surpassing 5,000 13 times and 4,000 22 times. The number surpassed the previous record of 172,996 set in 2016 over 48 games. The Boomers are celebrating their 10th season in 2022.

Lake Erie vs Gateway

Lake Erie dropped a pivotal series opener on Tuesday night. They had the opportunity to bounce back on Wednesday night to pick up a game. For Gateway, it was also a pivotal game for them. Trying to bounce back into the wild card spot in the West division. 

It was a home run affair for both teams on Wednesday night. All eight runs coming from home runs, seven home runs total between both of the teams. Lake Erie won the long ball battle as well as the game, 5-3.

The Crushers provided some power in the second inning. Sean Cheely led off the inning with a solo home to the short porch in right field. One batter later, Austin White drove a ball over the right field wall for a solo home run. To top off the home run filled inning, London Green hit a solo home run to right field.

Gateway responded with three runs of their own in the course of the third and fourth inning. In the third inning, Andrew Penner hit a solo home run to right center. In the fourth inning, Trevor Achenbach and Kevin Krause went back to back solo home runs to tie the game at three. 

In the sixth inning, the hero for the Crushers was Bryan De La Rosa. The catcher who has struggled at the plate throughout the season, provided a huge hit. De La Rosa with a two run home run to left field, giving Lake Erie the late lead.  

The bullpen for the Crushers were the unsung heroes of the game. Throwing four shutout innings with the combination of Nathan Holt, Gleyvin Pineda, Sam Curtis, and Alexis Rivero. It was Rivero called out in the ninth to convert the save and set up a rubber match for the series finale. RIvero continued his impressive season by shutting down the Gateway offense, helping the Crushers to a 5-3 win.

Evansville vs Windy City

A seven-run, five-hit third inning was all the ThunderBolts needed to beat the Evansville Otters on Wednesday night. They evened the series with an 8-3 win at Ozinga Field. 

The first two innings were full of opportunities for the ThunderBolts (27-45), who had three hits and a walk but didn't score. In the third, they broke through. With one out, two singles and a walk loaded the bases. The next six batters picked up RBIs. Peyton Isaacson started it with a run-scoring walk. Singles for Payton Robertson, Brynn Martinez and Matt Morgan extended the lead to 4-0.

Evansville (41-32) made a pitching change but their fortunes didn't change. Nikola Vasic kept the RBI streak alive with a groundout and Jairus Richards followed with a hustle triple that brought in the seventh run of the inning.

The Otters chipped away with single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh but they were unable to make a big run.

The bottom of the fifth inning resulted in the ThunderBolts' lone insurance run. Martinez singled and stole second. Vasic singled him home for the team's eighth run of the game.

Lost in the offensive resurgence was another strong outing from Kenny Mathews, who picked up his second straight win. Mathews (6-3) allowed a run on just three hits with eight strikeouts to earn the win.

Austin Gossman (7-4) had his three-game winning streak snapped, allowing seven runs in 2.1 innings for the loss.