POSTPONEMENTS AND WASHINGTON CLINCHES WEST DIVISION
Washington vs Evansville
With a 10-5 win over the Evansville Otters to close an otherwise at times not great month of August, the Wild Things secured the eighth division title in franchise history and back-to-back division crowns after winning the Northeast last year. Washington has snapped its five-game skid and clinched the West Division title.
Washington started the scoring after Kobe Foster worked a perfect top of the first inning in Washington. In the bottom half, Andrew Czech doubled to left center and two scored on the play, the second on an error by Evansville centerfielder Miles Gordon, leaving Czech with one RBI on the hit, but leaving Washington with a 2-0 lead.
Evansville got on the board as Gordon tripled home Dakota Phillips in the second, but Kobe Foster dominated after that. He went on an immediate run of setting down 12 in a row before a single broke that up, but despite two hits in sixth, failed to plate another off Foster. He logged seven innings to match a career high in what turned out to be his eighth win of the season.
Washington extended the lead by getting that second inning run back in the second on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Wilber. The Wild Things got three more in the third, two on a double by Czech and another on an RBI flare to left by Hector Roa to plate Czech. Then the lead grew much bigger when Tristan Peterson connected with Washington's third grand slam of the season to make it 10-1 in the sixth.
Evansville scored four times off Kenny Pierson in the eighth to cut the lead a bit to 10-5 Dan Kubiuk got the final out of the eighth. Lukas Young finished it in the ninth for the Wild Things to cap the division-clinching win
Sussex County vs Tri-City
The ValleyCats were set to host the Sussex County Miners in their mid-week series opener Tuesday night at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.
Tuesday's game has been postponed to Wednesday, with a single admission double header set to start at 4PM.
Trois-Rivières vs Ottawa
Tuesday's game between the Ottawa Titans and Trois-Rivières Aigles has been postponed due to inclement weather.
The game has been rescheduled as part of a doubleheader Wednesday, August 31, starting at 5:00 p.m., with doors opening at 4:30 p.m. Both games are scheduled for seven innings.
New Jersey vs Quebec
The Quebec Capitales and New Jersey Jackals game got rained out and postponed.
Tuesday's game has been postponed to Thursday as part of a doubleheader.
Empire State vs New York
July Sosa allowed just two hits over his six innings of work as the host New York Boulders moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Frontier League's Eastern Division with a rain-shortened 2-0 win over the Empire State Greys on Tuesday at Clover Stadium in Pomona.
With the Trois-Rivieres at Ottawa and the Sussex County at Tri-City games postponed because of rain, the win left the Boulders knotted in the standings with the Titans and Miners, all at 52-38.
Sosa surrendered a second inning single to Wilies Estrada and a sixth inning single to Khalyd Cox. He walked two and struck out six as he improved to 7-2 on the season.
Meanwhile, the Greys' Andres Rodriguez was nearly as effective as Sosa. Over 5 1/3 innings, he allowed only four hits, walked three and struck out seven as he fell to 0-8 on the year.
The Boulders struck for two runs in the second inning. With one out, Francisco Del Valle walked, that was followed by a single by Jake MacKenzie and a walk to Tucker Nathans that loaded the bases for Ray Hernandez, who hit a groundball to short where Jose Mercado fielded the ball and shoveled it to Robbie Carling for the force at second as Del Valle crossed the plate with the night's first run.
Carling then relayed the ball to first where Trey Woosley, who dropped the throw. As the ball rolled away, allowing MacKenzie to score the inning's second run.
The rain came in the top of the sixth inning, with play finally halted with one out in the home half of that frame.
Schaumburg vs Lake Erie
The 2021 Frontier League Champion Schaumburg Boomers used back-to-back homers in the bottom of the seventh to inch closer to a return trip to the playoffs by winning the opener of a key series with Lake Erie 6-5 at Wintrust Field.
Braxton Davidson opened the scoring with his 17th homer of the year in the bottom of the first. The Boomers are now 14-5 when scoring first at home. Lake Erie tied the game in the fourth on a homer from Kenen Irizarry, his third in the last two games, and took the lead with three runs in the fifth. Schaumburg was able to tie the game in the sixth. Blake Berry connected on a two-run double to right-center and William Salas poked home the tying run with a two-out single.
Lake Erie took the lead in odd fashion in the top of the seventh after an out at second erased a force everywhere else and enabled the go-ahead run to cross. With one out in the bottom of the inning Davidson connected on his second of the game, an opposite field blast to tie the score. Mike Hart followed with his 19th of the year to account for the final. Lake Erie put the first two on in the ninth but Darrell Thompson struck out the next three to fan the side for the 12th time this year and collect his 15th save.
Kristian Scott earned the win in relief, his fifth of the year. Luis Perez started and worked six. Jake Joyce tossed the eighth. Davidson scored three runs as the Boomers came from behind to win a game for the 26th time this season.
Gateway vs Windy City
The Gateway Grizzlies used an eight-run third inning to break a scoreless game wide open, and kept up the offensive onslaught for most of the night, while Manuel Rodriguez (1-2) twirled a complete-game, three-hit shutout on the mound in a 12-0 blowout win over the Windy City ThunderBolts on Tuesday night at Ozinga Field.
After being held hitless in the first two innings by Jack Alkire (0-4), Gateway opened the third inning with six consecutive hits. Isaac Benard drove in the first run on a single, and after a wild pitch made it 2-0, Kevin Krause tripled to right field to make it a 3-0 score. Zach Racusin followed with an RBI single of his own, and Peter Zimmermann then increased the lead to 6-0 on a two-run home run, his first since June 19. But the Grizzlies were not done there- later in the inning, with two outs, Andrew Penner drove in two more runs on a single to make the score 8-0, capping the inning for the Grizzlies at nine hits to set a new season-high for base hits in a single frame.
The Grizzlies would then add on to their lead in the fifth on another Penner RBI single and a two-out RBI double by Krause for a 10-0 cushion, and completed the scoring in the eighth when Ian Bibiloni hit into a fielder's choice with the bases loaded coupled with a throwing error that scored Racusin and made it 12-0.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez went the distance for the first time in his professional career, striking out four and not allowing a single outfield hit until the eighth inning, marking the second individual shutout of the season for the Gateway pitching staff.
Five Grizzlies enjoyed multi-hit games, with Krause tying his career-high by going 4-for-4 and finishing a home run away from the cycle. Penner also finished 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs, while Abdiel Diaz tied his season- and career-high with three hits and scored three runs. The 18 hits by Gateway as a team were one off a season-high as well.
The Grizzlies will look to make it three wins in a row and a series win when they face the ThunderBolts in the middle game of the series on Wednesday, August 31, at 7:05 p.m. CT.
Florence vs Joliet
The Joliet Slammers hit three home runs and every member of the starting lineup recorded at least one hit in an 8-1 Joliet victory over the Florence Y'alls Tuesday night at Thomas More Stadium.
Matt Feinstein led the way for the Slammers with a four-hit performance, including two doubles. Brylie Ware hit a three-run home run, joined by Jackson Coutts and Carson Maxwell as the home run hitters tonight for the Slammers.
It started early for Joliet with Coutts providing a RBI single in the top of the first inning. Maxwell homered to lead off the fourth inning, and a Feinstein RBI double made it 3-0 Slammers. Their big inning came in the sixth when they scored four runs, highlighted by Ware's long ball. Coutts added a run in the ninth with his first home run as a Slammer.
The only offense Florence would get tonight came from Lyndon Weaver, who had three hits including his first professional home run. Brennan Price extended his hitting streak to four games. Alberti Chavez had two hits and now has 15 in his past 11 games.
Griffin Baker lasted five 1/3 innings and gave up five runs, taking just his second loss of the season. Cameron Pferrer pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the Y'alls. Cam Aufderheide pitched seven-plus innings for Joliet giving up the one run. He struck out five. Caden O'Brien bailed out Aufderheide in the eighth by stranding two inherited runners before pitching a scoreless ninth to secure the win.
Florence and Joliet play one and a half games tomorrow, Wednesday, August 31. Starting at 5 PM, the two teams will finish a suspended game from July 17 which is stuck in the bottom of the third inning. Following the conclusion of that game, there will be a 30 minute intermission before the regularly scheduled night game. That second game will be a seven-inning contest.
