NEW YORK BOULDERS DEFEAT NEW JERSEY JACKALS AS GAMES GET POSTPONED AROUND THE LEAGUE
New Jersey vs New York
Jake MacKenzie, Austin Dennis and Ray Hernandez each knocked in two runs to lead the host New York Boulders to a 8-6 win over the New Jersey Jackals on Wednesday at Clover Stadium in Pomona.
Tied at 5-5 in the fourth, the Boulders grabbed the lead with a pair of runs. Max Smith led off the frame with a solo home run, his 18th of the year. Later in the inning, a Jake MacKenzie RBI single gave New York a 7-5 advantage,
New Jersey got one back in the top of the fifth when Justin Wylie drew a bases loaded walk off Boulders' reliever Ryan Munoz. The Boulders answered, though, in the bottom of the inning with a Gian Martellini run-scoring single that reinstalled their two-run lead at 7-5.
The Boulders scored in the first inning when MacKenzie was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
The teams traded three spots in the second inning. New Jersey got their runs on a two-run home run by Wylie and an RBI single by Jason Agresti; the Boulders' runs coming on a solo home run by Ray Hernandez, his second of the year, and a two-run double by Austin Dennis.
The Jackals grabbed a 5-4 lead with a two-run third inning on a sacrifice fly by Alfredo Marte and a solo home run by Wylie, his second dinger of the night, giving him 18 on the year.
The Boulders knotted the game at 5-5 with a run in the bottom of the third on a Hernandez RBI single.
Ryan Munoz, the second of four New York pitchers, got the win and improved to 4-2, while Matt Leon pitched the ninth inning for the Boulders to earn his first save of the year.
Juan Perez was tagged with the loss for New Jersey, falling to 4-2 on the season.
Empire State vs Sussex County
The Empire State Greys and Sussex County game was postponed due to rain and will be made up as a two-game doubleheader on Thursday starting at 4:30 p.m.
Ottawa vs Tri-City
The Ottawa Titans and Tri-City Valleycats game started but then was later postponed in the fourth inning due to rain and will resume as part of a doubleheader on Thursday.
Quebec vs Trois-Rivières
The Quebec Capitales defeated the Trois-Rivières Aigles by a score of 8-3 on Wednesday night.
The game remained scoreless until the fifth inning.
Quebec would get on the scoreboard first with David Glaude hitting a grand slam.
The Capitales add on to their lead by adding two more runs to make it 6-0.
The Aigles would finally get on the scoreboard when Steve Brown hit a three-run homer to make the score 6-3.
However the Capitales made sure to get some insurance runs by adding two more runs in the top of the ninth with the help of a T.J. White double to ultimately lead them to their 8-3 win.
Codie Paiva gets the win for Quebec while Osman Gutierrez gets charged with the loss for Trois-Rivières.
Florence vs Washington
The Florence Y'alls (33-46) fired the opening salvo against the Washington Wild Things (53-27) for the second straight night. This time, they held on for a 4-3 victory at Wild Things Park on Wednesday.
Brennan Price provided Florence's offense a major spark. After not homering in ten games, Price hit a pair of two-run shots—one in the first, one in the third—to account for all four Y'alls runs. Price's 77 RBI are second-most in the Frontier League, pending out-of-town scores.
The Wild Things chipped away at the early deficit and Y'alls starter Griffin Baker, just as they did last night. Nick Ward, Wagner Lagrange, and Hector Roa all launched solo homers against the left-hander, pulling Washington to within a run after five innings.
Baker still pitched well despite the home runs, though, and the Y'alls bullpen backed up his effort in a big way. Evy Ruibal, Cameron Pferrer, and Kent Klyman all bridged the gap with scoreless innings. It set up Joe Dougherty for his first save in over a month.
Against the top team in the Frontier League, Dougherty took the mound and confidently struck out all three batters he faced. His seventh save of the year secured the Florence victory. Baker picks up his third win. Washington's Stephen Knapp takes the loss.
The Y'alls bullpen continues to impress, despite the team's recent struggles. Over the last 25.2 innings pitched, the bullpen has allowed only seven runs, four of which came in one inning. Four pitchers combined for four scoreless frames tonight.
Schaumburg vs Lake Erie
The Lake Erie Crushers capitalized on six extra base hits and a number of quality pitching performances at Mercy Health Stadium on Wednesday night, as they defeated the Schaumburg Boomers, 5-2.
The Crushers (40-40) clawed their way back to the .500 mark for the first time since May 31, while the loss for the Boomers (43-36) was just their fourth in their last 10 games.
The Crushers jumped on the board first, capitalizing on a pair of doubles in the bottom of the first inning. Jackson Valera smacked a one out double down the line in right, and he came around to score moments later on Kenen Irizarry's RBI double to the gap in left center.
Lake Erie added a trio of runs to their advantage in the bottom of the fourth. The inning began with Kemuel Thomas-Rivera's solo homer to left, his second of the series and sixth of the season. DJ Stewart began a string of three straight one out hits when he reached on a one out single and came around to score on Austin White's RBI triple to the gap in left center field. Bryan DeLaRosa brought White home on a RBI single to left.
The Boomers were able to get on the board in the top of the fifth. They used a pair of solo homers to get on the board, getting solo shots from Brett Milazzo and Alec Craig. They had the tying runs aboard in the inning when Nathan Holt (1-0) came on in relief to strike out Blake Berry and he retired Clint Hardy on a groundout to end the inning.
The Crushers were able to get a big insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Valera reached on a single to start the inning before he stole second base and reached third on an errant throw from the catcher, Blake Grant-Parks. Thomas-Rivera drove him home on a double down the line in left to give Lake Erie a 5-2 lead.
Schaumburg put threats together in the seventh and the ninth, but lined into a pair of double plays to negate those opportunities. With runners on first and second and one out in the seventh, Elliot Carney was able to get Berry to line into an inning ending double play. The game ended with a line out that resulted in a twin killing as well. With a runner on first and one out, Craig lined out to Irizarry at short, who then threw to first to double up Wyatt Stapp.
Holt tossed an inning and two-thirds of scoreless relief to pick up his first professional victory, and allowed just one hit along the way. Alexis Rivero (15) tossed a scoreless ninth inning to pick up the save, while Sam Curtis and Elliot Carney worked scoreless innings in relief as well.
Valera and Thomas-Rivera led the Crushers offensively, as they both went 2-for-4 on the night. Valera has now reached in six straight games. DeLaRosa's RBI single in the fourth extended his hitting streak to five games. Seven of Lake Erie's starting nine hit safely at least once.
Gateway vs Joliet
The Gateway Grizzlies fell behind quickly on Wednesday night at Duly Health and Care Field, giving up four runs in the second inning with two outs, and managed just five hits offensively in what became an 8-1 blowout loss to the Joliet Slammers.
Manuel Rodriguez (0-2) retired the side in order in the first inning, but ran into trouble in the second, eventually allowing a two-out RBI single to Lane Baremore, which opened the scoring and made it 1-0 Joliet. Rodriguez then issued a walk to load the bases, and they were cleared on a double by Tyler Depreta-Johnson, making the score 4-0. The Slammers would also touch up the lefty with two outs and two runners on base in the bottom of the fourth on a three-run homer by Matt McGarry, making the score 7-0. A leadoff error in the sixth would lead to the Slammers' final run and make the score 8-0.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies' offense was silenced again by the Slammers pitching staff, this time by starter Cole Cook (9-6), who went the distance while striking out nine and walking only run. He pitched a shutout through the first eight innings, and retired 15 hitters in a row from the fourth inning until the ninth, when Isaac Benard broke up the blanking with a solo home run, his 19th of the season. But it was too little and too late as the Grizzlies dropped to six games under .500 and 5.5 games back of a playoff spot in the West Division.
The Grizzlies will look to avoid being swept in the series finale on Thursday, August 18, at 6:35 p.m., with Brendan Feldmann on the mound against Joliet right-hander Cam Aufderheide at Duly Health and Care Field.
Windy City vs Evansville
A four-run first inning for the ThunderBolts proved not to be enough, as the Evansville offense answered with six runs of their own in the fifth on Wednesday night to propel the Otters to a 6-4 victory in game two of the series at Bosse Field.
Newcomer Brian Klein led off the game with his first hit as a member of the Bolts, and Brynn Martinez quickly followed with a double to right field. After Boone and Richards were retired, DH Bren Spillane reached on a costly two-out error by third baseman J.R. Davis that allowed Klein to score the first run of the night. Then, ensuing batter Peyton Isaacson clubbed a 3-run home run to give the Bolts (30-49) a 4-0 advantage.
Justin Miller, making his first start in professional baseball since 2018, cruised through the first four innings, at one point retiring eight Otters hitters in a row. It was a leadoff walk in the 5th inning to J.R. Davis, however, that changed the course of the game for Miller and the Bolts. After a balk and an RBI single by Zach Biermann, Brody Tanksley walked. George Callil followed with a base hit to load the bases, and Andy Armstrong drew a walk that forced in a run and prompted a Bolts pitching change. Austin Marozas relieved Miller and allowed a 2-run single to Bryan Rosario. In total, the Otters (42-37) plated six runs in the frame and held the score the rest of the way.
Miller (3-4), who took the loss, walked four batters, struck out six, and was charged with four earned runs. Otters starter Ryan O' Reilly (6-6) rebounded after the four-run first and went on to throw six innings of six hit baseball to earn the victory. Evansville closer Logan Sawyer notched his league-leading 19th save of the season.
