DENIS PHIPPS HITS FRANCHISE HIGH 31TH HOMERUN IN WIN AGAINST TROIS-RIVIÈRES

Tri-City vs Trois-Rivières 

The Tri-City ValleyCats arrived in Trois-Rivieres on Friday looking to remain red-hot by securing their sixth consecutive win on the heels of two series sweeps at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium. The 'Cats would score early and often in the series opener at Stade Quillorama, tallying 10 runs in the first three innings. Tri-City would be held scoreless in just two innings (the 6th and 8th innings) of Friday night's contest.

For the third time in two days, the 'Cats went back-to-back. The first two runs of the game crossed in the top of the first courtesy of consecutive solo shots by Pavin Parks and Denis Phipps. Phipps' home run in the first would be his 30th of the 2022 season. Phipps leads the Frontier League in home runs this season, and is the first player in franchise history to record 30 home runs in a single-season. Parks and Phipps would not be done after the first inning, each would homer again in Friday's blowout. Carson McCusker would tally two home runs for the second straight game to become the third 'Cat to record a multi-HR game on Friday. Brantley Bell would extend his hitting streak to 29 games with a double in the top of the second frame. All Tri-City batters would reach base in the blowout win, with Brad Zunica being the only 'Cat held out of the hit column (Zunica walked twice and was hit by a pitch).

Newly-acquired right-hander Kyle Arjona would hold the Aigles to five runs over six innings of work before making way for a stellar performance by the Tri-City bullpen, who would surrender one hit and zero runs in three innings of work, securing the Tri-City win to start the road trip.

New York vs Sussex County

Max Smith homered for the sixth straight game and starting pitcher Robby Rowland pitched into the seventh inning to pace the visiting New York Boulders to a 4-2 win over the Sussex County Miners on Friday at Skylands Stadium in Augusta, NJ.

The victory was the Boulders 12th in their last 16 games as they continued to push for an Eastern Division playoff spot in the Frontier League.

Smith's solo home run in the third inning snapped a 2-2 tie and gave the Boulders the lead for good.

New York had jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two innings, scoring single runs in each of the game's first two frames. In the first inning, a Tucker Nathans' single scored Austin Dennis, who had doubled one batter earlier – both hits coming with two outs against Sussex County starter Connor Dand.

In the second inning, Francisco Del Valle hit a solo home run, his fifth of the season, to give the visitors a two-run advantage.

The Miners answered in the bottom of the second as Nilo Rijo's two-run single evened the game at 2-2.

The Boulders extended their lead to 4-2 in the fourth innings with a Jake MacKenzie RBI double.

Rowland pitched 6 2/3 innings for the Boulders, allowing two runs on five hits. He walked three and struck out six as he improved to 5-5 on the season.

Dan Wirchansky relieved Rowland and closed out the win with 2 1/3 scoreless innings to register his first save of the year.

Wirchansky and Rowland combined to limit the Miners to only five hits.

Empire State vs New Jersey

The Jackals scored early and often on Friday, picking up their seventh win on the year against Empire State, 8-1. Yasel Santana set his season high for strikeouts in a game with ten as he vexxed the Greys all night long.

Santiago Chirino doubled in the first and later scored on a wild pitch to give the Jackals a 1-0 lead. The advantage would swell with Edward Salcedo doubling home Austin Markman and Chirino lifting a sac-fly to center, pushing the Jackals in front 3-0.

Jordan Holloman-Scott would pull the Greys to within two with an RBI groundout.

The Jackals ran away with the contest after that. A Justin Wylie RBI single in the bottom of the sixth made it 5-1 and then the big bats broke loose. Josh Rehwaldt hit his 27th homer on the first pitch of the seventh. Alfredo Marte and Wylie went back-to-back in the eighth inning and Joe Simone put the capper on the scoring with an RBI double, 9-1 New Jersey.

Ottawa vs Quebec

Kicking off the weekend on the road north of the border, the Ottawa Titans (46-35) were shut out 6-0 by the Quebec Capitales on Friday night.

Miguel Cienfuegos (win, 9-2) backed the Capitales with seven-plus innings of shutout ball, striking out five. The Canadian lefty allowed only four hits, all singles, to earn the quality start.

After a pair of shutout innings, Tyler Jandron (loss, 7-4) fell into trouble in the third. After a Tristan Pompey single, Yordan Manduley reached on an error. Following a sac bunt, David Glaude put the Capitales on the board with an RBI single. Jeffry Parra followed suit with an RBI single of his own, making it 2-0.

Ruben Castro laced a double in the fourth, scoring a lead-off single from Jonathan Lacroix, putting the Capitales ahead 3-0.

Jandron would finish the night going six innings of four-run ball, with only one of the runs being earned. The lefty surrendered seven hits, striking out four, and retired 9 of the final 10 he faced.

Brendon Dadson singled to left to start the eighth, as Cienfuegos was replaced by right-hander David Richardson. Making his return to the Capitales, Richardson got three-straight flyouts to end the inning.

Kaleb Schmidt allowed a walk in his first inning out of the bullpen for the Titans, before Kyle Crowl belted a two-run homer in the eighth, making it 6-0. Schmidt would give way to Dadson to get the final out of the inning.

In the loss, the Titans are shut out for the fourth time this season. Also, the club falls into third place in the East Divison, the lowest since May 26.

Schaumburg vs Florence

The Florence Y'alls (33-48) mustered only six hits against stout Schaumburg Boomers (44-37) pitching in a 5-0 shutout loss at Thomas More Stadium on Friday.

After scoring the first run in four consecutive road games, the Y'alls returned home and failed to score a run. They managed only four at-bats with runners in scoring position, and advanced just one baserunner to third in the game.

Schaumburg's pitching was tough to crack all night, beginning with starter Kobey Schlotman, who dealt five scoreless innings. It is his third consecutive start allowing no runs. Kristian Scott, Thomas Nicoll, and Darrell Thompson allowed just one hit in four relief innings.

Jonaiker Villalobos pitched well, too, and took a tough-luck loss. The Florence ace allowed no earned runs in five innings pitched. Schaumburg scored four runs against the Y'alls bullpen, with Cas Silber and Karl Craigie finishing the game on the mound.

A pitching duel at the start turned into a rout at the end, with all nine Schaumburg batters recording a hit. The only Y'all to record multiple hits was shortstop Alberti Chavez.

The Y'alls continue their weekend series at home with game two tomorrow at 6:36 p.m. Edgar Martinez is Florence's projected starter against the Boomers' Miguel Reyes.

Evansville vs Washington

The Washington Wild Things dropped the first game in the series against the Evansville Otters 4-0 on Irish Heritage Night. Evansville's pitching prevailed in the shutout, while their bats got them runs in the fourth and seventh. 

Sandro Cabrera succeeded in preventing the Otters from scoring for the first three innings, but an RBI double by Andy Armstrong in the fourth got Evansville the lead 1-0. Cabrera stayed in until the seventh when he gave up two more runs and was relieved by Isaac Mattson. Two more runs were scored by Evansville that inning to make it a four-run game.

The Wild Things' final chance to score came in the bottom of the ninth. Hector Roa struck out while looking, Tristan Peterson was walked, and Wagner Lagrange popped out to first. Andrew Czech came up to bat with the odds against him, and he flew out to center field to end the game.

Washington's offense struggled this game. Only three batters got hits, and one runner made it to third. Eight batters were struck out, including six that struck out while looking. 

Cabrera pitched 6.2 innings in the loss, allowed three runs, two of them earned, yielded five hits, walked four and struck out five. Mattson pitched 0.1 innings, allowed one run and two hits. Dan Kubiuk pitched the last two innings, allowed one hit, walked one and struck out three. 

Lake Erie vs Joliet 

The Lake Erie Crushers (41-41) coming off their best series performance with a sweep over the Schamburg Boomers. The Crushers inched closer to the wild card spot but the team that inched even closer was their opponent for the weekend, the Joliet Slammers (43-38).

The Slammers kept up their hot play with early offense and strong starting pitching. Joliet controlled the entire game as the Crushers bats didn't make much noise until the ninth inning in the 5-3 loss 

Joliet right out of the gates in the first inning. Brylie Ware belted a two run home run over the left field wall to give the Slammers a two run lead.

Lake Erie responded with a run of their own in the fifth inning. Recently acquired NaJee Gaskins executed a great bunt to the pitcher that scored Sean Cheely from third. 

The Slammers added on to their lead in the bottom half of the sixth inning. Lane Baremore scored on a wild pitch, Ware for his third RBI, hit an infield single to second base, and Matt Burch topped off the three run inning with an RBI single to right field.  

For Joliet, other than their offense, the team used a strong pitching performance to control the game. The starter Steve Moyers lasted five innings, allowed six hits, one run, one walk, and struck out two. Chandler Brierley followed the starter out of the bullpen in the sixth inning. Brierley lasted three innings, allowed zero runs on four hits, one walk, and struck out two. 

The Crushers entered the final inning down four runs, needing a miracle for the series opener. The new pitcher for the Slammers was Caden O'Brien. Austin White tripled to right center, Cheely scored on the extra base hit. Bryan De La Rosa followed with an RBI sac-fly to left field, cutting the deficit to two. Jared Liebelt relieved O'Brien of his duties on the mound for the save opportunity. The closer recorded the final two outs and secured the 5-3 win for the Slammers. 

Windy City vs Gateway

The Gateway Grizzlies went to extra innings for the first time this season at GCS Credit Union Ballpark on Friday night, and won 4-3 over the Windy City ThunderBolts on a walk-off wild pitch in the bottom of the tenth, breaking their three-game losing streak overall and recording their first win on a Friday since opening night in Sauget.   

Lukas Veinbergs was sharp on the mound early for Gateway, pitching three perfect innings to begin the ballgame with five strikeouts. With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Abdiel Diaz singled and Andrew Penner followed with a two-run home run to give the Grizzlies an early 2-0 lead. 

After a scoreless fourth inning, Windy City got on the board in the top of the fifth inning on a Jonathan Nieves RBI single, the only run Veinbergs allowed in five and two-thirds innings while striking out a career-high 10. But Gateway quickly responded in the bottom of the frame when Alex Hernandez launched a solo home run to left field for his first professional home run and a 3-1 Gateway lead. 

The ThunderBolts would rally late, however. In the eighth with one out, Jairus Richards reached first base on an infield single and advanced to second on an error on the same play. With two outs in the inning, Richards then stole third base and scored on another error to make it 3-2. In the ninth, Sam Gardner (6-2) came on for the save and struck out the first two batters he faced, but Brian Klein hit a game-tying solo home run to right-center field to make it 3-3. 

In the tenth with the International Tiebreaker in effect, Gardner stayed in and stranded the automatic runner on third base, keeping the game tied. Jay Prather then advanced safely to third base on a Hernandez bunt, and with Diaz at the plate and a 2-0 count, Ryan Miller (1-2) threw a wild pitch in the turf to bring home Prather and give the Grizzlies the victory, snapping a streak of 12 straight defeats in games played on Friday.