BOULDERS DEFEAT TROIS-RIVIERES IN EXTRAS

New York vs Trois-Rivieres

After watching an eight-run lead disappear, the New York Boulders inched closer to earning a second-place finish in the Frontier League's Eastern Division and a home wild card game with a 13-10 extra-inning win over the host Trois-Rivieres Aigles on Saturday at Stade Quillorama in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada.

Knotted at 8-8 after nine innings, Jake MacKenzie supplied the big hit, blasting a three-run home run to left-center off Aigles' reliever Tyler Luneke in the 10th inning to give New York an 11-8 lead. The home run was MacKenzie's 14th of the season.

Later in the inning, the Boulders would tack on a pair of insurance runs, one on a Ray Hernandez triple and the other on an RBI single from Giovanni Garbella.

On Hernandez' triple, David Vinsky scored, the 97th run scored by the Boulders' outfielder, tying the Frontier League mark set back in 1998 by Richmond's Morgan Burkhart.

Juan Santana and Raphael Gladu each had an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th for Trois-Rivieres to wrap up the night's scoring.

The win extended the Boulders' win streak to 11 games and, coupled with the Ottawa Titans' 8-1 loss to the Capitales in Quebec City earlier in the evening, left New York one full game ahead of the Titans in the race for second place.

A Boulders' win over the Aigles or an Ottawa loss to Quebec in the regular season finale on Sunday would give New York second place in the division and the right to host the Titans in the Eastern Division wild card game on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Trailing 8-0 after 2 ½ innings, the Aigles chipped away, scoring four times in the third and twice in the sixth as they closed to within 8-6. They then added a run in the seventh and ninth innings to complete the comeback, tie the game at 8-8, and force it into extra innings.

In the third, Trois-Rivieres got an RBI double from Juan Santana, a run scoring single by Juan Kelly and saw runs also score on an error by New Your shortstop Austin Denis, as well as a wild pitch by Boulders' starter Andy Hammond to cut their deficit in half to 8-4.

In the sixth, a Raphael Gladu solo home run, his eighth of the year, made it an 8-5 game; then a Ricardo Sanchez RBI groundout cut the Aigles' deficit to 8-6.

In the following inning, a Steve Brown run scoring single brought the Aigles within a run at 8-7. Then, in the ninth, Ethan Hunt's singled leveled the scoreboard at 8-8.

The Boulders had raced out to an 8-0 lead with a three-run opening inning and a five-run third frame.

In the first, Francisco Del Valle knocked in two runs with a single, while Chris Kwitzer drove in one with an RBI groundout as New York moved out to a quick 3-0 advantage.

In the third, the Boulders tacked on five runs. In the inning, New York received run scoring singles from Gian Martellini and Austin Dennis, an RBI double by Ray Hernandez and another RBI groundout by Kwitzer.

Dylan Smith, the second of three New York pitchers on the night, picked up the win and improved to 2-0 on the season. Zach Schneider pitched the 10th inning to close out the win for the Boulders.

Meanwhile, Luneke, the fourth hurler of the evening for Trois-Rivieres, took the loss and fell to 2-3 on the year.

New Jersey vs Sussex County

After the no-hitter on Friday, the Miners came for retaliation and defeated the Jackals 5-1 on Saturday night. 

The only Jackal run came in the first inning off of an Alfredo Marte single in the first inning. 

The Miners would quickly tie in the bottom of the first with a triple from Jawaun Harris. 

Sussex County would proceed to score the rest of their runs in the seventh and eighth inning with three coming in the bottom of the seventh and one run in the bottom of the eighth to lead them to their 5-1 win. 

Yasel Santana would get the loss for New Jersey while John Baker would get the win for Sussex County. 

Empire State vs Tri City

The Empire State Greys and Tri-City ValleyCats faced off in the middle stanza of their weekend series Saturday night at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.

Kingwood, Texas native Austin Faith took the ball for Los Puentes de Tri-City, while rookie left hander took the ball for Gil Rondon's Greys.

Both starters would fire scoreless frames in the first and second innings, with both starters allowing a combined four runners to reach base.

In the top of the third inning, Faith would issue his first walk of the game to center fielder Jordan Garr. Jordan Holloman-Scott would be retired for the first out of the inning, a fly out to Jesus Lujano. Khalyd Cox would double deep into right field, but Garr would be called out at home on a fabulous relay by Carson McCusker, Brad Zunica and a fine tag by Austin Elder kept the Greys off the scoreboard.

Los Puentes de Tri-City would get on the board first, scoring two runs in the home half of the third inning. An RBI double from 2022 Frontier League MVP Brantley Bell would score Joey Campagna, who doubled to lead off the inning. Pavin Parks would hit a sacrifice fly off of Hernandez, plating Elder. Denis Phipps would fly out to end the inning, but Los Puentes grabbed the early lead.

Faith would retire the Greys in order in both the fourth and fifth frames, striking out one and inducing four ground outs in the process. The right hander would run into some trouble in the sixth. A lead off double by Jordan Holloman-Scott would put a runner in scoring position to kick the inning off, he would then advance to third on a wild pitch. Following the strike out of Khalyd Cox, Robbie Carling would launch a two-run home run over the right center field wall, tying the game up at two runs per side. Faith would work out of the remainder of the inning, limiting the damage to just those two runs.

Los Puentes would not let the lead last long, as the Puentes offense would score two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. RBI singles from Denis Phipps and Jesus Lujano would provide the rest of the offense the Tri-City bullpen would need.

Olbis Parra would work around a Paul Mondesi lead off single by retiring the next three batters he faced in the seventh inning. Pete Incaviglia would call on set-up man Adam Hofacket in the top of the eighth, striking out the top of Empire State's order to end the inning. 

Trey Cochra-GIll entered from the bullpen to face the heart of the Greys order in the top of the ninth. The right hander would strike out the first batter he faced, induced a Willies Estrada ground out, and a pop out off the bat of Paul Mondesi ended the game, securing the series victory for Los Puentes de Tri-City. 

Ottawa vs Quebec

Codie Paiva (win, 9-3) put together seven shutout innings, sinking the Ottawa Titans (55-39) to an 8-1 defeat to the Quebec Capitales on Saturday night.

The right-hander allowed only two hits over the first six innings, while also retiring 12 in a row at one point.

Jeffry Parra broke the club's single-season record with his 32nd homer of the season off Grant Larson (loss, 6-5) in the bottom half of the first, breaking the ice.

Making his second start of the season, Larson put together three innings of one-run ball, striking out four.

The bullpen took over for the Titans in the fourth, as Gavin Sonnier allowed a Parra one-out triple to score on a wild pitch.

Matt Terrones and Kenny Williams allowed a combined six runs in four innings of work, as the Capitales poured it on.

AJ Wright broke up the shutout bid with a leadoff solo homer in the eighth off Franklin Parra. Wright's 12th homer of the year left in a hurry and gave the Titans some late life.

Later in the inning, the Titans loaded the bases, as Parra got Jake Sanford to ground into a fielder's choice, then got Kai Moody to fly out to right to end the threat.

In the loss, Jason Dicochea extended his hitting streak to ten straight with a 2-for-4 performance.

Washington vs Windy City

The Washington Wild Things knocked off the Windy City ThunderBolts in the middle game of the final regular-season series of the 2022 campaign, 5-2, behind a strong start by Sandro Cabrera and first-half offense. 

Sandro Cabrera became the first pitcher to pitch into the ninth for Washington this season and ended up pitching eight innings with four hits allowed, two runs and 11 strikeouts, which matched a career high. Cabrera fanned 11 batters August 5, 2015, for the DSL Giants against the DSL Dodgers. Cabrera had eight shutout innings under his belt, but a first pitch home run in the ninth broke the shutout bid then Cabrera walked a batter and left the game to a standing ovation. 

The scoring for Washington started in the second inning when Cam Balego hit into a double play to score Wagner Lagrange, who had doubled in the frame. The Wild Things then got a run in the third on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Brocato that plated Nick Ward, who had tripled in second at bat back from injury. 

The Wild Things added three in the fifth on two homers. The first was hit by Ward, his 19th of the season. It was a two-run shot to give Ward 61 RBI on the season. The next batter, Anthony Brocato, lifted a homer to right center to give the hosts back-to-back shots.

Later in the fifth, Scotty Dubrule's double helped Washington break the team record for doubles in a season. The two bagger was Washington's 167th of 2022, passing the 2005 team's 166 doubles for the new team record. 

Christian James finished the game for Washington after Cabrera left. It was a game that Ward, Lagrange, Ian Walters and Dubrule notched multi-hit performances. The win, Washington's 61st, is the club's fifth in a row. They'll have a chance for a perfect homestand in tomorrow's regular-season finale.

Evansville vs Florence

The Florence Y'alls versus Evansville Otters game scheduled for tonight, Saturday, September 3, has been postponed due to rain. The game was delayed twice before the decision to reschedule. 

The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Sunday, September 4. Game One will begin at 1:07 PM, which is the start time of the regularly scheduled Sunday home finale. Game Two will start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. It is the final Family Sunday of the season and the final day of Fan Appreciation Weekend at Thomas More Stadium. 

Gateway vs Lake Erie

The Gateway Grizzlies got a fantastic outing from Steven Ridings (5-2) on the mound, adding to it great defense and early run production as they defeated the Lake Erie Crushers 5-1 on Saturday night at GCS Credit Union Ballpark. 

After Ridings tossed a scoreless top of the first inning, the Grizzlies wasted no time to strike first in the bottom half. Andrew Penner, Isaac Benard, and Kevin Krause led off the bottom of the frame with consecutive doubles, with the last two having RBIs attached, and Zach Racusin followed by driving in another run on an RBI single to give Gateway the early 3-0 lead.   

Lake Erie would answer back in the top of the second with an RBI single by Casey Combs, but the Grizzlies got the run back in the very next half inning when, with two outs, Benard drove in Abdiel Diaz on an RBI single to make it 4-1. 

For the next five and a half innings, both offenses were silenced as the pitchers got into their groove. For Gateway, Ridings finished his night on the mound by tossing a season-high seven innings while allowing just one run and recording five strikeouts to hold the Crushers at bay. It is the first time that Ridings has pitched seven or more innings in a game since 2019. 

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Clint Freeman led off with an opposite field solo home run to give the Grizzlies an insurance run and make it 5-1. Anderson DeLeon would end the night on the bump by tossing the final two innings for Gateway, striking out four batters and picking up his first save of the season. 

Schaumburg vs Joliet

Cole Cook carried a perfect game into the seventh inning for the Joliet Slammers, who recorded a 9-1 won over the 2021 Frontier League Champion Schaumburg Boomers in the middle game of the regular season ending series on Saturday night.

Cook sat the Boomers down in order in the top of the first and then Joliet immediately scored five runs in the bottom of the frame. Carson Maxwell connected on a grand slam to break the game open early. Alec Craig ended Cole's perfect game with a double over the third base bag leading off the seventh and eventually scored the lone run in the contest. Cole retired the first 18 batters of the game.

Jumpei Akanuma suffered the loss, working 4.1 innings. Tyler Tomaka, Miguel Reyes and Juan Pichardo all appeared before Braxton Davidson came on for his second relief outing of the year, tossing a scoreless eighth. The Boomers struck out eight in the game.