JACKALS BREAK FRANCHISE SINGLE-SEASON HOME RUN RECORD AS MULTIPLE TEAMS SWEEP
New Jersey vs Sussex County
The penultimate Family Funday Sunday was a perfect day for baseball at Yogi Berra Stadium as the New Jersey Jackals (39-38) squared off against their vaunted rivals — the Sussex County Miners (44-33). After a difficult 16-2 loss the night before at Skylands Stadium, the stage was set for a cinematic finish to their third series of the season, and the home side did not disappoint, bashing their way to a 7-5 comeback victory to take the three game set.
New Jersey began the game with something to prove after allowing Sussex to take the first lead in the prior two contests. They flipped the script with a sharp ground ball by Dalton Combs to knock in Trevor Abrams to give the team a 1-0 lead.
Of course, no great story is complete without some adversity, as the Jackals would surrender the lead almost immediately, thanks to timely contact by Alex Toral and Miners' mainstay Martin Figueroa the next half inning. The deficit found itself at its steepest following an Oraj Anu RBI single to put New Jersey down 5-2 after the top of the seventh inning. Fortunately for the red and black, they still had a few plot twists up their sleeves.
It was showtime in the bottom of the seventh inning when Joe Simone cracked an RBI triple to right field, shifting the momentum slightly back in favor of his ball club. Then, following an RBI by Abrams, came the difference maker. A two run, blast to right field by Combs secured the lead for good, and gave the Jackals all they needed to wrap up the game.
But they weren't done yet…
The very next inning, team home run leader Josh Rehwaldt made team history, launching a no-doubter to right for New Jersey's 109th big fly of the season, eclipsing the Nick Giarraputo led 2012 team's 108 mark that stood for nearly a decade.
In addition to stellar offense by several of the all-stars in the lineup, the supporting cast of bullpen arms did their part to shut down the opposition. Hansel Rodriguez and Jose A. Ramirez combined to toss 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball, letting up just two hits and a walk while adding a strikeout to earn their third win and fifth save respectively.
With the victory, the Jackals moved back above .500, kept pace with the leaders in the playoff hunt, and took the season series lead 5-4 over the Miners.
Quebec vs Ottawa
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, the Ottawa Titans (46-32) tacked on five runs to defeat the Quebec Capitales 6-2 on Sunday afternoon, taking two of three.
After a scoreless first from Tyler Jandron (ND, 7-3), the Titans loaded the bases against lefty Miguel Cienfuegos (ND, 8-2) in the bottom half. A 4-6-3 double play ball off the bat of Clay Fisher, plated Liam McArthur's leadoff single to make it 1-0 for the home side.
For a second straight game, the Capitales battled back in the top of the second, getting a two-out single from Josh Sears, scoring Kyle Crowl's double.
Both starters would dominate for the rest of the afternoon, as Jandron went seven complete. The lefty allowed just one run, on six hits, striking out eight in the no-decision.
Cienfuegos delivered seven innings of his own, allowing five hits, walking one, and striking out one. At one point, the lefty out of Laval sat down 15 of 17.
The closest either side had to break the tie was in the bottom of the seventh, as Jake Sanford reached on a one-out single. Jason Dicochea ripped a double to left-centre, putting two in scoring position. With the infield in, Brendon Dadson chopped a grounder to second, where TJ White threw out Sanford at the dish for a crucial out. Cienfuegos would manage to get out of the jam, getting Rodrigo Orozco to ground out.
Gavin Sonnier (win, 4-0) served up a one-out solo homer off the bat of Jeffry Parra, who gave the Capitales a 2-1 lead with his 27th homer of the year.
Kai Moody started the eighth inning rally, reaching on an E6. Samuel Adames (loss, 5-5) followed up by loading the bases with one out. The righty bounced back by striking out Clay Fisher, before Sanford reached on an E3, as the Titans scored two runs to take the lead. Jason Dicochea put the game out of reach with a three-run homer to left, making it 6-2.
Left-hander Kevin Escorcia walked two in the ninth but struck out three to lock down the victory.
Trois-Rivières vs New York
After watching a late inning lead vanish, the visiting Trois-Rivieres Aigles took the rubber game of their three-game weekend series with New York, downing the Boulders, 7-6, on Sunday at Clover Stadium in Pomona.
Trois-Rivieres, after watching a four-run lead disappear, took a 7-6 lead in the top of the eighth. With one out, Connor Panas was hit by a pitch. With Steve Brown at the plate, Panas swiped second. New York reliever Dan Wirchansky, the Boulders' fourth pitcher of the game, struck out Brown, but surrendered an RBI single to Ricardo Sanchez.
The Boulders, down 6-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, had plated four runs against a trio of Aigles' relievers to knot the game at 6-6. New York got a solo home run leading off the frame from Max Smith, his 14th homer of the year; then took advantage of four walks, coupling them with a double by David Vinsky and a ruin-scoring groundout by Jake MacKenzie to even the game.
Trois-Rivieres scored runs in each of the game's first five innings. In the first, Juan Santana's solo home run, his fifth of the year, staked the Aigles to a 1-0 lead. In the second, Marcel Lacasse's RBI groundout made it 2-0. Trois-Rivieres scored once in the third on a bases loaded walk to Brown, once in the fourth on an RBI double by Santana and twice in the fifth on back-to-back solo home runs off the bat of Brown, his 11th of the season, and Sanchez, his seventh of the season.
Meanwhile, the Boulders received a second inning RBI double from MacKenzie and a run-scoring single in the third from Tucker Nathans and trailed 3-2 after three before falling behind 6-2 after 4 1/2 innings.
Empire State vs Tri-City
The Empire State Greys and Tri-City ValleyCats wrapped up their weekend series at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium Sunday evening.
ValleyCats right hander Joey Gonzalez toed the rubber in the series finale, with Keyvon Grenald opposing him.
Gonzalez would silence Empire State's offense in the top of the first inning, retiring the first three batters faced in order. In the home half of the opening frame, Cito Culver would lead off with an opposite field single, the first of three hits in the contest. He would then steal second base, and advance on a wild pitch to third. Third baseman Pavin Parks would come to the plate with one out in the inning, and ground out to Robbie Carling at second base. The ground out would be enough to drive Culver in from third for the first run of the contest.
Gonzalez would retire the next six Greys hitters in order over the next two innings, including back to back strike outs of Jordan Holloman-Scott and John Benevolent to end the second inning. In the home half of the third inning, Brantley Bell would fire an opposite field lazerbeam home run over the visiting bullpen to give Tri-City a two run cushion.
The first Empire State player to reach base in the contest was Khalyd Cox, who worked a lead off walk to begin the fourth inning. He would be caught attempting to steal second base following a Trey Woosley strike out to end the inning.
ValleyCats first baseman Brad Zunica would lead off the home half of the fourth inning with an opposite field base hit. Following a Carson McCusker strike out, Jesus Lujano would record his only base hit of the contest. Joey Campagna would walk to load the bases for Catcher Austin Elder with one away. The catcher would launch a Keyvon Grenald fastball over the right field fence for a grand slam, clearing the bases. Tri-City was not done scoring in the inning, they would add one more on a Pavin Parks sacrifice fly, bringing Cito Culver around to score.
Gonzalez would carry a no-hit bid into the sixth inning, until Robbie Carling singled with one away in the inning. He would be retired just two pitches later when Gonzalez would field a Jose Mercado line out, doubling up Carling at first base.
Gonzalez would surrender singles in the seventh and eighth innings, the only other two hits he would allow in his outing. Zunica would record his 55th RBI of the season, driving home the 8th run of the contest for Tri-City with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Empire State would begin the ninth inning with two runners on base with nobody out following consecutive walks to Mercado and Cox. Following a meeting with ValleyCats manager Pete Incaviglia, Gonzalez would retire the next three Greys in order, finishing his complete game bid. The right hander finished his outing surrendering just three hits, striking out nine, and walking three.
Florence vs Lake Erie
After scoring only one run in the first 23 innings of the series, the Florence Y'alls (32-45) tacked on six runs to blank the Lake Erie Crushers (38-40) 6-0 at Mercy Health Stadium on Sunday.
Gunnar Kines, Lake Erie's starting pitcher, carried a no-hitter through five innings. The first Y'all to face him in the sixth, catcher Cooper Edwards, singled against Kines and eventually scored the game's first run. Florence followed up with a four-run outburst in the seventh inning, highlighted by Rodney Tennie's two-RBI double. The Y'alls added one final run in the ninth as well.
Tennie, Ray Zuberer, Brennan Price, and Luis Pintor all drove in runs for the Y'alls, who pitched their second shutout of the season. Price's 73rd RBI of the season keeps him at fourth in the Frontier League in the statistic.
In a third consecutive pitchers' duel from the shores of Lake Erie, the Y'alls had the upper hand. Edgar Martinez earned the win with six scoreless innings, allowing only four hits and striking out seven batters. Evy Ruibal, Kent Klyman, and Joe Dougherty took care of the final three innings out of the bullpen.
Florence's lack of success with runners in scoring position needed to change, and it did. After a combined 0-for-19 in the first two games of the series, the Y'alls finished 4-for-10 in Sunday's victory.
Evansville vs Joliet
The Evansville Otters allowed four eighth-inning insurance runs to the Joliet Slammers, falling 10-5 in the series finale.
Starters Brett Adcock and Spencer Johnston were great out of the gate, each working four scoreless innings to start the game.
In the top of the fifth, Evansville finally found the run (and hit) column with a pair of singles, setting up Andy Armstrong's two-run single.
The 2-0 lead vanished quickly in the bottom half of the fifth, as Matt McGarry hit a bases-clearing three-run triple to give Joliet the lead. Two batters later, another run scored on Lane Baremore's RBI single.
The Slammers found two more runs in the inning on a JP Fullerton two-run double.
Evansville began their comeback attempt in the sixth when Elijah MacNamee hit a two-run single, bringing the Otters to within two.
The game sat still into the eighth inning when again the Otters worked at the Joliet lead. After Zach Biermann reached on a fielder's choice, J.R. Davis hit an RBI triple to bring the Otters within one, 6-5.
But the bottom of the eighth favored the Slammers, who found four runs of insurance. Carson Maxwell brought in the first run on an RBI single.
Shortly after, Phillip Steering grabbed a second run with an RBI single of his own. The final two insurance runs scored on Tyler Depreta-Johnson's two-run single.
The Otters managed a base runner in the ninth but failed to bring any home, falling 10-5 in the series finale Sunday afternoon.
The win belonged to Spencer Johnston, who stayed composed in the late innings. Brett Adcock, who was chased in the fifth inning, received the loss.
Davis, MacNamee and Jeffrey Baez all had multi-hit days for Evansville. Miles Gordon had his 21-game on-base streak come to an end.
Washington vs Gateway
The Gateway Grizzlies scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning, held off a Washington comeback, and snapped a four-game losing streak with a 9-6 victory over the Washington Wild Things Sunday night at GCS Credit Union Ballpark.
After a scoreless top of the first inning from Gateway starter Steven Ridings (3-1), it was the Grizzlies who scored first and in a big way, sending 12 batters to the plate against rookie Washington starter Landen Smith (0-1) and scoring eight runs, all with two outs. Trevor Achenbach, Clint Freeman, and Abdiel Diaz made the score 4-0 with singles in the frame, and Isaac Benard then capped the huge inning with an opposite-field grand slam, putting the Grizzlies up 8-0 and tying the most runs they had scored in an inning this season.
In the top of the fourth, Washington got on the board with a sacrifice fly from Wagner Lagrange to make it an 8-1 ballgame, but the Grizzlies got that run back in the bottom half, also with two outs. Freeman drew a walk and Zach Racusin singled to bring up Diaz, who drove in his third run on a single to give Gateway a 9-1 lead.
The Wild Things got to Ridings in the top of the fifth, scoring three runs, and two more in the seventh to make it a 9-6 ballgame and bring the tying run to the plate. Sam Gardner and John Murphy came in, however, and took care of the rest of the game, combining for three scoreless innings to end the contest, with Murphy picking up his seventh save in the ninth to seal the win. It was the 37th victory of the season for Gateway, tying their win total from all of 2021.
Schaumburg vs Windy City
In a pair of close games, the ThunderBolts lost both ends of a doubleheader to the Schaumburg Boomers at Ozinga Field Sunday afternoon. The opener was a 3-0 final before the Boomers took game two 8-6.
Game one featured one of the best pitching performances of the year for the ThunderBolts (29-48) as Garrett Christman threw the team's first complete game this season.
Christman put two zeroes on the scoreboard before the defense bit him in the third. With two runners on base, an Alec Craig single turned into two errors by ThunderBolt outfielders and two runs scoring.
The Boomers (43-34) added another run in the fifth when Payton Robertson misplayed a Chase Dawson flyball into an inside the park home run.
Christman (2-6) allowed only one earned run and struck out 11 but took the loss as the Windy City offense was held to just two hits total by Kobey Schlotman (3-1) and a pair of relievers.
Schaumburg took a 2-0 lead in game two but the Bolts came back with RBIs from Brynn Martinez and Jake Boone to tie it in the third.
Boone finished the game with three RBIs as he helped build a 5-2 lead.
In the fifth inning, Schaumburg came back with two runs and they reclaimed the lead on a three-run Braxton Davidson double with two outs in the sixth. They carried that lead to the win.
Kristian Scott (4-2) picked up the win in relief and Justin Miller (3-3) allowed three runs and took the loss.
