DOMINANT BULLPEN LEADS EMPIRE STATE TO VICTORY

Joliet, IL - It was deja vu all over again, as the Sussex County Miners and Joliet Slammers matched zeroes for six innings. And again, as was the case last night, the Miners would score a lone run in the top of the seventh to take a lead, and hold it going to the bottom of the ninth inning. But this time, the Miners were able to hold Joliet off of the scoreboard, and notch new manager Chris Widger his first victory as the Sussex County skipper as the Miners held Joliet to just two hits in a 1-0 triumph in front of 1118 fans at Duly Health and Care Field.

As was the case in the opener, both teams had opportunities early but couldn't cash in. In this contest, it was some stellar defensive plays that kept any runs from crossing the plate. Miners starting pitcher Tyler Thornton made two excellent plays off of the mound defensively, once diving to the bag in time after picking up a ball that was knocked down by Gavin Stupienski to end the second inning, then rushing toward home plate to flip the ball to Jason Agresti in time to get a force play in a bases loaded situation in the third. Thornton would allow just one hit through the first four innings before giving way to Alex Hart, who briskly worked his way through the Slammers lineup.

For the Slammers, it was Cameron Aufterheide's turn to churn out an excellent starting performance for the Slammers. The right-hander went 5 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, scattering five hits in the process while not allowing a run. And when Caden O'Brien finished off the sixth inning, both teams were in a familiar scoreless game heading to the seventh.

And, as was the case on Friday night, the Miners would score first again tonight. This time, it came without the benefit of a hit. Will Zimmerman drew a leadoff walk, then stole second on a pickoff attempt, and followed that by swiping third base cleanly. After a Willie Escala walk, Chandler Brierley would come on, but a fastball got past catcher J.P. Fullerton, and Zimmerman would scamper home to give the Miners a 1-0 lead.

After Hart finished the seventh - contributing three innings of one-hit ball of his own - the Miners turned to Freisis Adames for the eighth inning. Adames worked a very tidy frame that included a pair of strikeouts, and Chris Widger opted to send Friesis back out for the ninth. And Adames did not disappoint, as he got another strikeout and two fly outs to right field to finish off the Miners win, and give former Major Leaguer Widger his first win as Miners manager.

The series wraps up Sunday afternoon at 2:05 pm, with Cole Davis taking the mound for the Miners, who will be opposed by Turner Larkins for the Slammers.

Evansville, Ind. – The Evansville Otters earned their first victory of the season 3-2 over the Washington Wild Things on Saturday night.

Otters' pitcher Zach Smith keyed the win with six terrific innings on the mound. His seven strikeouts marked his Frontier League career high. The second year Otter allowed just two unearned runs both coming in the first inning while limiting the Wild Things to three hits.

Jeffrey Baez hit a go-ahead two run home run over the left field wall to give the Otters the lead in the bottom of the first. Dakota Phillips preceded Baez with an RBI double to score the first run of the inning.

Jake Polancic moved into his new Otters role as a closer with a gutsy five out save. He struck out a Wild Things batter with the tying run at third in the ninth to seal the victory. The Otters pitching staff did not allow a run after the first inning.

2,004 fans watched Evansville's win at Bosse Field and enjoyed post game fireworks.

FLORENCE, KY – Logan Mathieu hit his first professional home run – a grand slam in the sixth inning – to give the Florence Y'alls their first lead of the game in a come-from-behind 8-3 victory over the Gateway Grizzlies at Thomas More Stadium Saturday night.

At the time of Mathieu's home run, the Y'alls were trailing 3-2 and had trailed earlier in the game as well. But with Nate Garkow running into trouble in the sixth, Gateway went to Zac Ryan to try and get out of a bases loaded jam. Instead, Mathieu hit the home run to right-center field for a 6-3 lead. Florence (1-2) added two more in the seventh inning for the eventual five-run win.

Gateway (2-1) scored in the first inning for the third time in as many games with Clint Freeman greeting Jake McMahill with a two-run single. A lineout double play prevented the first inning from getting any worse for the Y'alls. McMahill ended up going four innings with three strikeouts, not allowing any runs after the two in the first.

Carson LaRue cruised through four innings for Gateway, striking out six along the way. The righty ran into trouble in the fifth and gave up a game-tying, two-run home run to Brian Fuentes for his first hit in a Y'alls uniform. LaRue would be lifted with two outs in the fifth and takes a no-decision.

In addition to Mathieu's first career home run, Carter Poiry earns his first career win on the mound after tossing two 2/3 scoreless innings. He walked two and struck out one. The first win of the season is also the first in the managerial career of Chad Rhoades. Garkow takes the loss after allowing the decisive blow off Mathieu's bat.

Marcos Castillo had the only multi-hit game of the night for the Y'alls, joined by Freeman and Willie Estrada for the Grizzlies.

The Y'alls have two off days before Frontier League play continues Tuesday, May 16 versus Joliet. In the meantime, Florence travels down to Savannah, Georgia to play the Savannah Bananas on Monday.

Troy, NY - The Tri-City ValleyCats (2-0) had their offense lead the charge for the second straight night, this time with a 6-1 victory against the Trois-Rivières Aigles (0-2) on Saturday at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.

Tri-City opened the scoring in the second inning. Jakob Goldfarb led off the bottom of the frame with a double off Tucker Smith. Goldfarb advanced to third on a fly ball from Carson McCusker. Zach Biermann reached on an error from second baseman Ethan Hunt, which allowed Goldfarb to score and give the 'Cats a 1-0 advantage.

The Aigles tied up the game in the fourth. Brock Ephan worked a one-out walk off of Joe Johnson. Rodrigo Orozco moved Ephan to second on a single. Ricardo Sanchez loaded the bases after an infield single. Ephan scored on a passed ball to notch the game at one.

Goldfarb reached on an error from Ephan in the bottom half of the fourth. McCusker singled and Zach Biermann walked to load the bases. Juan Montes lifted a sac fly to plate Goldfarb, and Pavin Parks roped a two-run single to pull Tri-City ahead, 4-1. 

The ValleyCats added a pair of insurance runs in the later innings. McCusker belted a solo homer, Tri-City's first long ball of the season, in the sixth. Trey Hair was hit by a pitch from Frankie Guiliano in the seventh, and Aaron Altherr brought him in with an RBI triple to make it a 6-1 game.

Johnson (1-0) earned his first professional win as a starter after pitching in 62 games out of the bullpen for the High Point Rockers in the Atlantic League over the last two seasons, and two games as a reliever in the Australian Baseball League with the Adelaide Giants. Johnson yielded an unearned run across five innings, walking four, and striking out five.

Smith (0-1) received the loss. He gave up five runs (one earned) on seven hits in six innings, walking one, and striking out three.

The ValleyCats eye a series sweep over the Aigles tomorrow, Sunday, May 14 back at The Joe. The first pitch will be at 5:00 PM. 

CRESTWOOD, IL —Another strong pitching performance guided the Schaumburg Boomers to a 5-1 victory over the Windy City ThunderBolts on Saturday to capture two-of-three in the season opening series.

Neither team scored until the sixth inning as Miguel Reyes for the Boomers and Cole Bellair for Windy City matched each other on the hill. Reyes did not allow a hit until the fourth inning. The first three hitters of the bottom of the sixth reached for Windy City but the hosts managed just one run.

The Boomers came back with a pair in the top of the seventh to take the lead. Chase Dawson led off with a double to right and Gaige Howard followed by drawing a walk. Following a sacrifice bunt, Will Prater drove in his first run as a pro with a groundout and Brett Milazzo put the Boomers ahead with an RBI infield single. Schaumburg tacked on three more in the ninth to put the game away on an RBI single from Miles Simington, a bases loaded walk to Alec Craig and a sacrifice fly from Dawson.

Reyes worked six innings and allowed just one run to earn his first professional victory, striking out five. Ben Strahm, Dylan Stutsman and Merfy Andrew all posted scoreless innings. The pitching staff struck out nine batters and finished the weekend with 34 strikeouts over 27 innings. Dawson, Milazzo and Simington all notched two hits while John Fiorenza walked four times.

The team will take two days off before resuming the season opening roadtrip on Tuesday night on the outskirts of St. Louis with a 6:45pm game against the Gateway Grizzlies. RHP Aaron Glickstein is slated to make his season debut on the mound for the Boomers.

Ottawa, On—The Empire State Greys have won their first game of the season due to the offensive prowess of Josh Sears and a dominant performance by the pitching staff.

Offensively, the top of the lineup for the Greys was explosive once again. Josh Sears got the offense going in the first by sending a fastball over the fence for a 3-run home run. In the fifth Sears delivered again. Hitting a ball deep down the right field line, Sears delivered a 2 RBI double and was immediately driven in by a Matt Turner single to center field. After a pair of 3 run innings the Greys held a 6-1 lead which they wouldn't relinquish.

Empire State received a dominating performance from its pitching staff. Michael Barker set the tone for the Greys going 4 ⅓ allowing just one run on 2 hits and striking out 5. Wilber Perez entered in relief in the fifth, and earned the win, for the Greys. He went 1 ⅔ innings giving up just one hit and a walk striking out two. Carson Ferry and Nick Trabscchi dominated the seventh and eighth putting the team in good position to secure the win

After scoring an insurance run in the top of the ninth, Tanner Propst shut the door. The southpaw side-armer set down the Titans 1-2-3, striking out two, to end the game. Empire State won the game with a final score of 7-1 and secured their first win of the season.

The Greys will take on the Titans in the rubber match tomorrow afternoon at 1pm EST.

Pomona, NY — The New York Boulders lost a heartbreaking opening series finale to the visiting New Jersey Jackals, 10-9, Saturday night at Clover Stadium. 

Alfredo Marte delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the ninth inning to give New Jersey (1-2) the lead and what would turn out to be its first win of the season. The Boulders (2-1) fell into an early eight-run hole but used a six-run fifth inning to climb back in the game. New York tied the game in the bottom of the seventh but fell just short of the comeback win and completing the season-opening sweep. 

Joe DeLuca homered for the second straight game and drove in three runs for the Boulders. Leadoff hitter Thomas Walraven added two RBIs for New York. Patrick Kivlehan, Tucker Nathans and Chris Kwitzer also drove in runs in the loss. 

DeLuca, David Vinsky and Giovanni Garbella each had a pair of hits for the Boulders. 

James Nelson provided most of the offensive damage for New Jersey, going 4 for 5 with two RBIs, two runs, and his second home run in as many days. Josh Rehwaldt also homered for New Jersey. Rusber Estrada, Alex Toral, and Marte each drove in one run in the win.

AVON, Ohio - The Lake Erie Crushers dropped Game 2 of their three-game set versus the Quebec Capitales by a final score of 2-1. 

The loss was accompanied by a back-and-forth battle all night, but mainly from the defense and pitching. The Crushers (1-1) starter, Kyle Seebach, threw for 5.0 innings, giving up no runs on one hit with a walk. He was perfect through the three frames, not allowing a baserunner and retiring the first 11 Quebec hitters.

Carlos Sano of the Capitales (1-1) threw for the same amount of innings, also holding Lake Erie off of the board while surrendering three hits and walks while striking out four.

The scoring began when the bullpen arms toed the rubber. In the top of the sixth inning, Quebec struck first after Elliot Carney allowed an RBI double from David Glaude to score Reece Yeargain. The Crushers then came back in the bottom of the seventh inning, tying the game thanks to an RBI double of their own from Santiago Chirino. 

With the score knotted at one, it was Ryan Roll of Quebec to get the job done in the top of the ninth. Hitting an RBI single into left field, Kyle Crowl came across to score, giving the Capitales the lead.

That would be all they needed as Franklin Parra came out of the pen as the closer. After giving up a leadoff single to pinch hitter John Tuccillo, he followed suit by going one-two-three, slamming the door on the Crushers night.

Todd Isaacs Jr. went 3-for-5 and scored the only run of the contest for Lake Erie. Chirino also tallied two hits. 

Hits were tied at six a piece for both clubs, however the Crushers left nine men on base. They had opportunities to score more than the single run that was mustered onto the scoreboard, but the strong performances of the four arms hoisted onto the mound from Quebec overpowered the offense.

The Crushers and Capitales will finish the series tomorrow, as the rubber match begins at 2:05 PM ET. Lake Erie will look to take their first series in the 2023 campaign.